Owner Comments:
Middlesex Hall's DH #26
Obverse: A deformed dwarf SIR JEFFERY DUNSTAN MAYOR OF GARRAT
Reverse: Thomas Hall's advertising information T. HALL CITTY ROAD NEAR FINSBURY SQUARE LONDON 1795 in six lines, THE FIRST ARTIST IN EUROPE FOR PRESERVING BIRDS BEASTS &: around
Edge: MANUFACTURED BY W. LUTWYCHE BIRMINGHAM . X .
Diesinker: Roger Dixon
Manufacturer: William Lutwyche
Issuer: Thomas Hall
Rarity: Common
Copper penny token issued in 1795 by Thomas Hall for his Exhibition of Curiosities and Natural Phenomena situated at 10 City Road, London.
Thomas Hall was a taxidermist and curiosity dealer and proprietor of an exhibition of stuffed birds and animals, curiosities and natural phenomena. He was the owner and exhibitor of the first Kangaroo ever to be brought to Europe which is an illustration of the importance and popularity of this establishment in Georgian London.
Thomas Hall was followed in the business by his son, also Thomas.
Jeffry Dunstan was a foundling, raised in the parish workhouse of St. Dunstan-in-the-East. He was a buyer of old wigs. Possessing a large fund of vulgar wit, Jeffery Dunstan was thrice elected as "Mayor" of Garrett by the public in a mock-election. He was finally defeated in 1796 by the muffin seller "Sir" Harry Dimsdale and died in 1797.
Atkins, Middlesex 27