Owner Comments:
Jordan's 1794 halfpenny
REFERENCE: Hampshire-Gosport DH-41
DIAMETER: 29 mm
WEIGHT:
COMPOSITION: copper
DIESINKER:
MANUFACTURER:
RARITY: common (more than 150 known)
OBVERSE: armoured bust of a bearded Sir Bevois wearing a helmet, facing left; "PROMISSORY HALFPENNY" above
REVERSE: three-masted collier ship, right, with central mast pointing to center of "O"; "PRO BONO PUBLICO" above; "1794" in exergue
EDGE: “PAYABLE AT I. IORDANS DRAPERS GOSPORT X X”
John Jordan was a mercer (a merchant who deals in expensive textiles) and draper with premises in Gosport near Portsmouth.
Sir Bevois was a is a legendary but tragic English hero that dates from the 13th century. He was the son the count of Hampton (Southampton) and his young wife, a daughter of the king of Scotland. The countess asks a former suitor to send an army to murder Bevois' father, and being successful in the plot, she then marries her suitor. Feeling threatened with future vengeance by her ten-year-old son she decides to do away with him as well. He is saved from death by his faithful tutor, sold to heathen pirates, and eventually reaches the court of an eastern Mediterranean kingdom. After many amazing exploits he gets his final vengeance on his stepfather, but after succeeding to his inheritance he is again, driven into exile.
A collier is a flat-bottomed, bulk cargo ship designed to carry coal. As Gosport was a foundry and shipbuilding center it must have been a common sight in the area as the demands for coal would have been significant. It is worth noting that colliers are only shown on three Conder tokens, those of South Shields and Stockton (coal towns in the north of England) and at Gosport.