Medal (Burchell)
HC.J.13.X.13
Medal (Burchell). Such tokens were common in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries when there was a scarcity of legal currency in small denominations. They were often used as advertising. Parliament prohibited their production (27 July 1817) from 1 January 1818.
This copper example is the size of a half-penny and the edge reads 'This is not a coin but a medal. +.+.+.+.' It was added because many believed that Burchell's tokens had monetary value and they they could be returned to him for redemption. Late eighteenth century or early nineteenth century.
Late eighteenth/early nineteenth century
