Owner Comments:
Middlesex Spence DH #1111a
Obverse: A man hanging from the gallows, the ladder in position against the bar. On the ground a spear, fetters and a headsman’s axe. In the background the flag of St. George is flying from a window of a three storied house. The legend END . OF P (a human eye) T.
Reverse: The legend in two concentric circles with a small ornament below the date SUCH . IS . THE . REWARD . OF TYRANTS . 1796 .
Edge: Plain
Diesinker: Unknown
Manufacturer: Thomas Spence
Rarity: Scarce
The identity of the man hanging from the gallows is thinly concealed by the ideograph P (eye) T, which in 1796 would have been easily interpreted as the Prime Minister William Pitt.
Often referred to as the first socialist, Thomas Spence was born in 1750 in Newcastle-upon Tyne and was an English radical, advocating for common ownership of the land and equality of the sexes. He was one of the leading revolutionaries of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He left Newcastle for London in 1787 and had a book shop ‘The Hive of Liberty’ at 8 Little Turnstile, High Holborn. He published a weekly tabloid “Pigs Meat, or Lessons for the Swinish Multitude, Collected by the Poor Man’s Advocate” where he advocated for reforms. He was a member of the London Corresponding Society and was imprisoned multiple times. He spent 7 months in Newgate Goal in 1794 charged with high treason and 12 months in 1801 for seditious libel. He died in London on 8 September 1814.
One of Thomas Spence's many political tokens.
Atkins: Not Local 237a
Bt. Richard August, Stacks Bowers Summer Showcase Sale, September 2025