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Halfpenny token, bust of Spence left with engraver's signature

Image attached to CM.BI.1915-R

An image of Token. Halfpenny. James, Charles (C18th engraver), die-engraver. Spence, Thomas, issuer. Skidmore, John, manufacturer. Place of issue: London. Obverse; T*SPENCE [quatrefoil] 7 MONTHS IMPRISONED FOR HIGH TREASON [quatrefoil] / 1794. Bust of Spence left with engraver's signature beneath truncation. Reverse; HALFPENNY. View of Bastille under assault by mob, a man on horseback left before pointing left with stick, cannon barrels littering floor. Copper, milled, plain edge, width, 28.92 mm, height 29.54 mm, weight 10.6 g, circa 1794 to circa 1805.

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Token. Halfpenny. James, Charles (C18th engraver), die-engraver. Spence, Thomas, issuer. Skidmore, John, manufacturer. Place of issue: London. Obverse; T*SPENCE [quatrefoil] 7 MONTHS IMPRISONED FOR HIGH TREASON [quatrefoil] / 1794. Bust of Spence left with engraver's signature beneath truncation. Reverse; HALFPENNY. View of Bastille under assault by mob, a man on horseback left before pointing left with stick, cannon barrels littering floor. Copper, milled, plain edge, width, 28.92 mm, height 29.54 mm, weight 10.6 g, circa 1794 to circa 1805.

Image data

  • Accession Number: CM.BI.1915-R
  • Photograph copyright © The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
  • Aperture: f/16.0
  • Focal length: 120
  • Camera: Hasselblad H4D-31
  • Photographer name: Katie Young
  • Image height: 530 pixels
  • Image width: 1023 pixels
  • Processed with: Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.4 (Windows)
  • Filesize: 98.54kB
  • Exposure time: 1/15
  • ISO Speed: 100
  • Fnumber: 16/1
  • Captured: 2016:05:23 14:56:13

Key words

18th Century 19th Century artists British Charles James copper English engraver Fitz_CM John Skidmore male obverse portraits profile Thomas Spence token treason

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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Halfpenny token, bust of Spence left with engraver's signature" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-131598678 Accessed: 2025-12-30 18:11:51

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/image/media-131598678 |title=Halfpenny token, bust of Spence left with engraver's signature |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-30 18:11:51|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Halfpenny token, bust of Spence left with engraver's signature</figcaption>
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