Horses
USA - Delaware State Quarter


Obverse
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Reverse
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Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description: 1S 1811 G.BRIT SOMERSETSHIRE - BRISTOL
Grade: NGC MS 65
Owner: brg5658
 
Set Category: Thematic & Topical Coins
Set Name: Horses
Slot Name: USA - Delaware State Quarter
Research: See NGC's Census Report for this Coin

Owner's Description

Purchased on 3/5/2015. Great Britain, Somersetshire, Bristol, Silver Shilling Token, 1811 Edge milled, diameter 25mm, Approx. 3.9 grams (Dalton-49; Davis-45) Obverse: Bristol arms with supporters, ship and castle within shield, snake and scales of justice above, unicorns to either side, SEPT 6 1811 below, LET TRADE & COMMERCE FLOURISH ISSUED BY W. SHEPPARD. EXCHANGE. Reverse: VALUE 12 PENCE in oak leaf wreath at centre, SOMERSETSHIRE, WILTSHIRE, GLOUCESTERSHIRE, SOUTH WALES AND BRISTOL TOKEN in two lines around. ========================================= The arms were officially granted on August 24, 1569. The arms are based on the early seals of Bristol, from which the ship and castle theme (signifying a strongly fortified harbor) developed. The shield was in use from about the 14th century, and to this supporters and crest were added in 1569. The significance of these various items is recorded in the City Audit Books of this time:- the Unicorns will only do homage to men of virtue; the arms in the crest signify that good government depends on wisdom (the serpent) and justice (the scales) and that these are divine gifts from above. ========================================= An interesting snippet from the Bristol Mirror in August 1811 explains the situation at the time these tokens were issued: SCARCITY OF CHANGE—The total disappearance of Good Coin and the extreme difficulty of procuring Silver Change, continue to perplex, if not to alarm, every description of persons. The Bank [of England] Tokens have been so sparingly issued, that they have hitherto served rather to gratify curiosity than to administer to public convenience. In fact, unless some means are immediately adopted to remedy this daily . . .[increasing] evil, it will be impossible to execute the ordinary transactions of trade. The want of change is no longer merely an inconvenience, but a source of actual distress to thousands of traders and poor people; the former of whom are reduced to the alternative of giving credit, which they wish to avoid, or keeping their commodities in hand; and the latter are compelled to submit to purchases in which the liberty of choice is sacrificed to the necessity of the occasion. It is a serious fact, that several butchers and market people, on the last Taunton market day, declared their intention of withholding all supplies which were not indispensably required by their regular customers, while others avowed their determination to abstain from attending the market altogether. From James O'Donald Mays' BNJ Article (Silver Tokens and Bristol, 1978): "William Sheppard was one of those enterprising Bristolians who conducted a wide range of business activities. The 1815 city guide lists him as being a stationer, bookseller, lottery operator, and owner of a patent medicine warehouse. His place of business was near the Exchange, thus assuring him a steady procession of prosperous clients. His own guide of Bristol, published a few years before his tokens were issued, carries a full page of patent medicines available from his shop: his cures bear such intriguing names as Balm of Mecca, Iceland Liverwort, Senate's Embrocation for Worms, and Sicilian Bloom of Youth and Beauty. Sheppard issued shillings (Dalton 49-50) and sixpences (Dalton 65); both denominations would have been useful in purchasing volumes from his bookshop, many of which sold for a shilling or one shilling and sixpence."​

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