Annual totals
The largest copper coin ever issued in Great Britain is this sixpence token issued for the Birmingham workhouse in 1813. Weighing five and a half ounces each, they owe their existence to the temporary low price of copper relative to silver at the time. To one side is an elevation of the building and to the other a crest and the words One Pound Note Payable at the Workhouse For 40 Tokens. There are thought to be only about 10 specimens known.
This very fine example, which sold for £7500 (estimate £2000-3000) at the Dix Noonan Webb (24% buyer’s premium) October 3 sale of tokens, came from the collection of the late Francis Cokayne. It was sold with a letter dated February 1891 signed by a previous owner, Thomas Emery Davies of Court Chambers Corporation Street in the City of Birmingham. The last time the token was sold at auction was in 1905 when it brought £17 10s (the equivalent of around £2100 today).