Object Record
Images
Metadata
Catalog Number |
1982.803me |
Object Name |
Token |
Title |
Thomas Spence Political Token |
Artist |
Unknown |
Date |
1795 |
Description |
Copper token. Obverse: Wild pig in center standing over a scepter, crown and shepherd's crook, with a liberty cap at top. "PIGS MEAT PUBLIC GOOD BY T. SPENCE LONDON" around perimeter. Reverse: "THOS. SPENCE / SIR THOS. MORE / THOMS. PAINE / 1795" in center. "ADVOCATES FOR THE RIGHTS OF MAN" around perimeter. |
Label |
In 18th-century England, tokens such as this one served multiple purposes. Faced with a lack of low-denomination coinage (none had been minted since the 1750s), some budding entrepreneurs produced privately-minted copper coins, which circulated widely. Many political activists took advantage of this hand-held source of advertisement to produce tokens with political messages. Thomas Spence was one of the most prolific political token producers in the 1790s. A London bookseller, Spence wrote and published pamphlets on radical topics, including land nationalization. He also published the pamphlets of Thomas Paine, praised on this token as one of three "advocates for the rights of man." The other two advocates are Spence himself and Sir Thomas More, who described an imaginary communal society in his 1516 book “Utopia.” The obverse advertises Spence’s weekly political journal “Pig’s Meat,” which he described as "Lessons for the Swinish Multitude." The surge in privately minted coinage ended in 1797, when the British government commissioned Matthew Boulton to produce copper coinage in small denominations at his Soho mint (see M-B685). |
Material |
Bronze |
Dimensions |
Dia-0.813 inches |
Credit line |
American Philosophical Society. Gift of Chester R. Chrisler, 2 February 1982. |
Search Terms |
18th century eighteenth century advertising |