17th Century Token, Ireland, Dublin, Mic Wilson, Halfpenny, 1672, Butcher's arms and crest, legend commences upper right, MIC WILSON OF DVBLIN, rev. St George on horseback slaying dragon left, legend surrounding, HIS HALFPENNY 1672, edge grained, weight 4.32g (Norweb 6235ff; BW 416). Toned with surface marks, almost very fine with a good depiction of St George for grade.
With a reverse to appeal to Sovereign collectors these are the most commonly encountered Dublin tokens and for a time were actually used as coinage on the Isle of Man.
Within the 1814 edition of the "Memoirs of Jonathan Swift" the appendix page lxxviii, it says:
" There were certain "brass tokens current in the city of Dublin, commonly called "Butchers Halfpence, for the exchanging of which the undertaker who coined them, had given sufficient security to the Lord Mayor and Corporation. But this undertaker privately counterfeited his own halfpence, insomuch that for one of the original stamp, ten or more of the counterfeits were in circulation; and when any one of these were brought to him to be exchanged, he alleged that he was not bound to do so, because they were counterfeit; and having so cunningly managed the matter, that the cheat could not be brought against him. The city lost, perhaps, little less than £1,000 thereby."
Provenance:
Ex Dix Noonan and Webb, Auction 250, 3rd March 2022, lot 432 part.