Owner Comments:
Pictured above is a 1787 Auctori Plebis Token (W-8770) graded AU 53 by PCGS.
Although at least one researcher, (Charles V. Duncan; Colonial Newsletter April 1975), has tried to tie the tokens' production to an unspecified American enterprise, the general consensus is that they were manufactured and circulated in England as part of the Conder Token Series. Walter Breen suggested a connection to William Lutwyche's Birmingham shop. Others have traced the tokens' origins to Peter Kempson's Mint, also in Birmingham. Definitive answers remain elusive.
Several Condor tokens combine a commercially oriented obverse, with reverses very similar to the Auctori Plebis reverse design elements. Among these are the D & H Norfolk 20 and 21; and Hampshire 9 and 10. (D & H stands for Dalton and Hamer, a major work dedicated to listing Condor tokens. (Some British evasion halfpence have also been found with the Auctori Plebis reverse).
Although the Auctori Plebis tokens originated in England, several factors have enticed American colonial collectors to obtain a specimen: The obverse features a draped bust left-facing profile of King George II, very similar to that seen on Connecticut and Vermont coppers of the same period. In particular, the resemblance to the 1787 Connecticut emissions from Jarvis & Co. of New Haven (Miller 33) is striking.
The anti royalist legends give credence to the belief that they were manufactured for ultimate circulation in America. Auctori Plebis translates from Latin into "by the authority of the people", while Indep Et Liber stands for "Independence And Liberty". These legends parallel the "Auctori Connec" and "Inde Et Lib" language found along the periphery of popular Connecticut coppers.
The imagery appearing on the reverse of the Auctori Plebis pieces is in keeping with what might be expected on an English coin: Britannia is seated on a box. Her left arm touches an anchor, symbolic of England's naval supremacy. Her right arm rests on a globe, with a crowned English lion below, again, symbolic of England's control of the world.
The entire obverse die was purposely shallowly cut, to generate simulated wear, in the hope the tokens would be more readily accepted into commerce. For this reason, the tokens are best graded by evaluating the condition of their reverse. The tokens all exhibit a plain edge.
Since the reverse die was larger than most planchets to be struck, all the lettering and the full date rarely fit on the final product. Many later die state examples exhibit an extensive arc shaped reverse die break extending from the anchor and through the forehead of the seated figure into the adjacent field. Estimates of the number of surviving specimens range from 75 to 500.