Middlesex 520 (Scarce). Skidmore. Copper halfpenny. 12.82 gm. 27 mm. A man in handcuffs and irons, a padlock on his mouth; A FREE BORN BRITON OF 1796 around / A knife, fork, and plate chained on a table; USELESS above. Uncirculated; struck with an evenly rusted die; a small silver-colored splash in the obverse field; old gash on table on reverse and small edge ding at 9'; slight reverse edge nick at 9'. It is unusual to see a piece that so clearly reflects the susceptibility to rust of dies from this era. Ordinarily the dies would be polished and the fields would be smoothed out and a piece like this would be discarded. (It is included in this sale because it illustrates a problem of the era so well.)

The Mike Sussman Collection of British Trade Tokens.