Middlesex 785 (R). Spence. Copper halfpenny. 11.46 gm. 28 mm. "The Jewish Boxer" Bareheaded bust left; D. MENDOZA above / Two boxers squaring off to box (barefisted); FASHIONABLE AMUSEMENT around, 1790 below. Edge: SPENCE x DEALER x IN x COINS x LONDON. Uncirculated; lightly toned over fresh surfaces.

Mendoza set up a school to teach young Jews the art of boxing, an art that spread so that many of them became expert. The result was that soon "It was no longer safe to insult a Jew." (Thompson in the 1989 BNJ quoting a 1966 publication, London Life in the Eighteenth Century, by M. D. George). Thompson notes that the boxer on the right on the reverse might well be Mendoza.

The Mike Sussman Collection of British Trade Tokens.