Moneta
Registered: August 2005
Location: Arizona USA
Posts: 2,346
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Skidmore & Son, Copper Halfpenny, c 1795 (D&H Middlesex 513, Rarity RR!) Obv: Busts of the King and Queen of France dividing the date 17 - 95. Around the perimeter LOUIS XVI ET M. ANTOINETTE ROI ET REINE DE FRANCE; Rev: A guillotine with a house in the background. HALFPENNY above; Edge: Milled, diagonal (Atkins p. 113, 393). Well struck, attractive and scarce. Middlesex D&H 855 shares this reverse of the invention of Dr. Guillotine with an issue by Thomas Spence's JAILED Self portrait.
Skidmore & Son, Founded by John Skidmore (1748-1823) and later joined by his second son, Paul (b. 1775) in 1795 or 1796. They carried on an iron-foundry and held the appointment of stovegrate maker to His Majesty's Board of Ordnance. After becoming Skidmore & Son they produced numerous tokens, ultimately responsible for more than a quarter of all the token varieties produced in the late 18th century, including most of those issued by Matthew Denton, Thomas Prattent, and Thomas Spence.
Note: So far I have not found a source that attributes this token specifically to Skidmore. Currently, I assume this association is made by the fact that Thomas Spence definitely designed the guillotine reverse used on his "Jailed" self portrait tokens ( Middlesex D&H 855).
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