Scottish Farthing, Angusshire C. 1795

[constanius]

Scottish Farthing, Angusshire C. 1795 D & H 39 Ob. PAYABLE ON DEMAND DUNDEE cypher M. & Co. pair of balance scales. Rev. Sentinel on duty, fort with flag flying & cannon. Bronze 22mm.

At first, I thought the Scottish soldier had taken a wee dram too many from his hip flask, because as you can see he appears to be leaning a wee bit, then I realized that he had rocked backwards to avoid the cannonball, which left a hole by his head.

[RHM22]

It looks like there's a big cannonball heading his way from the left.

[Figleaf]

That is actually the back of the cannon

D & H note that the issuer of the token is unknown. It was designed by Wright. The die sinker was Wyon and the manufacturer was Kempson. Both Wyon and Kempson were based in London (I have no clues on Wright) and Kempson was known for issuing medals in token format. That constellation of factors leads me to consider that this piece may have been a London issue for a fantasy company. All the more so because the design is clearly inspired by the "adil" coins for Bombay. Dundee is of course a sea port, but it was not an international sea port beyond the North sea and Scandinavian countries, while London was, so chances are that the Indian coin was familiar in London, but rarely seen in Dundee.

Peter

[constanius]

From "A century of banking in Dundee"


Sorry to disagree Peter.

James Wright & James Junior were father & son merchants from Dundee who issued & designed tokens.  So it would appear that the token was a genuine Dundee token(the small amount of Dundee trade tokens support this as well).  Note halfpenny size-Dundee #8 Dudhope castle 3,336 Tons of Flax & Hemp imported here 1796 value, 160.128 GBPs.  It appears the port did a fair amount of trade, other tokens mention the port & commerce too.

.

[Figleaf]

Excellent, so we can place Wright in Dundee and we can presume that he had experience in having his designs created via the London route. But who is M & Co and why couldn't D&H locate them? Nevertheless, I think we should give this piece the benefit of the doubt.

Flax and hemp would typically be imported from the Austrian Netherlands and the Southernmost Dutch ports.

Peter

[constanius]

But who is M & Co and why couldn't D&H locate them? Nevertheless, I think we should give this piece the benefit of the doubt.

.

Peter

Interestingly halfpenny #4(also by Wright) is for the warehouse of Alex Molison of Dundee & Molison Co. Dundee was still trading in 1865, so perhaps the M & Co was for Molison & Co.  It would make sense as they had issued a halfpenny, likely that they issued the farthing as well and because of the smaller size Wright condensed the name to M & Co.  Seeing as Dundee was quite small. most people would still know who's farthing tokens they were, seeing as they would be used to the larger halfpennies with the full inscription.