Owner Comments:
Pictured above, is a 1794 Franklin Press Token, graded Mint State 62 BN by PCGS, with a CAC sticker affixed.
Since this piece was produced abroad, and never circulated in America, its appeal to avid colonial collectors is mainly predicated on its connection, in name, to Benjamin Franklin, the noted Pennsylvania diplomat, inventor, and patriot. Walter Breen attributed this token to the Lutwyche Mint in Birmingham, England. Although this mint frequently utilized John Gregory Hancock as an accomplished engraver, there is no certainty as to who fashioned the dies. The Franklin Press tokens are part of the British Conder token series (designated as D & H Mx 307a), a group of half penny and penny sized emissions, usually created specifically for collectors, or for merchants as a means of advertisement (store cards).
The token's obverse depicts a wood frame printing press, of a type traceable to the patented invention of William Jensen Blaew of Amsterdam circa 1620.
In 1724, Benjamin Franklin obtained a loan from Pennsylvania Governor Sir William Keith, to buy type and printing supplies. Franklin, then 18 years of age, traveled to London where he worked as a journeyman printer at the shops of Samuel Palmer and John Watts until July of 1726. Successor owners of the business, Cox & Bayliss may have been the individuals who ordered the tokens' production. The printing press shown on the token typifies the one actually used by Franklin during his training. Thereafter, Franklin returned to the colonies, and in 1728, set up his own shop. Franklin saw this press again, upon revisiting London in 1768. An accompanying plaque was created in his honor. The original press was brought to the United States in 1842, and currently resides in an exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution.
The Latin legend appearing on the obverse's periphery, has been variously translated to: as learning rises liberty flourishes.
The tokens were made in large numbers, and circulated widely in Britain. They were probably fashioned from a single pair of dies, since most examples show a heavy horizontal die break slightly right of center within the press, as well as a small defect at the E and R in Libertas, and a bulge at the T. The reverse legend reads "Payable at The Franklin Press London". Almost all specimens exhibit a plain edge. Two unique examples display deviant edges, one reeded; and another with the verbiage "An Asylum For The Oppress'd Of All Nations", (as on the 1795 Liberty & Security halfpenny). A single piece displays an impression of the British East India Company emblem on its reverse. These tokens are rarely seen with significant amounts of original red-orange mint luster.