ca. 1795 Great Britain evasion halfpenny ca 1795 Thomas Seymour North Wales crowned harp Washington Atkins 443 Cobwright T.0030 F-VF

Great Britain, evasion halfpenny of about 1795, in the name of Thomas Seymour.

Obverse: bust to right wearing a cap. Legend: THOMAS SEYMOUR.

Reverse: crowned harp, with two stars on each side below the harp. Legend: NORTH WALES.

References: Atkins 443, Cobwright T.0030/N.0240.

Very rare type.

Evasion tokens appeared in Britain in the late eighteenth century. Imitating the royal coinage was a serious offence, but pieces carrying an invented name or a slightly altered legend fell outside that law. Halfpennies with fanciful names thus came into circulation, and they were accepted as small change simply because there was far too little official coin to go round.

What is certain is this: the same reverse die with the crowned harp and the four stars was also used for the halfpenny in the name of George Washington, the Washington North Wales halfpenny, known as Breen 1298 and Baker 35. In what order the die was paired with the various obverses has not been established. The same reverse also occurs with an obverse reading IOHNSON PUGALIST. Stack's Bowers attributes these evasion halfpence to William Lutwyche, a well known maker of eighteenth century tokens and of evasions and counterfeit halfpence, and notes that this variety was apparently unknown to Breen and Baker. On the same occasion it was suggested that Snowden in 1861 may have taken a Thomas Seymour piece with a right facing head for a Washington, precisely because of this North Wales reverse. That remains a suggestion and not an established explanation.

For a comparable piece see Stack's Bowers, The 2009 Americana Sale, lot 7507.

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