A dealer i regularly buy from just got this in stock, and i thought it was a very interesting bank token. I didn't know these existed until i came across this one. Odd denomination of 1 Shilling and 6 Pence too.
It hasn't yet, but probably will tomorrow. Trying to figure out if the price is fair, since it is a lot of money to me since my budget for buying is small.
I think if I remember right these coins were overstruck from Spanish silver, I know fact the dollar was but I think these smaller ones were too hence the odd denomination.
The Eighteen Pence Bank Token In the later part of the reign of George III the price of silver was high and there was an acute shortage of silver coins available for circulation. The Bank of England took steps to remedy this situation by issuing tokens of value three shillings and eighteenpence during 1811, and for the following years up until 1816. The initial design showed a draped bust of the king in Roman armour, but was changed in 1812 to a design with a laureated head and truncated neck. Changes were made in the reverse also. A ninepence token was prepared, but did not progress beyond the pattern stage. During the 1816 the Great Recoinage took place, and after 1820 the Bank Tokens were only accepted as bullion. None of the regular issues are uncommon, although there are some scarce proofs. From ('Coins of the UK') by Tony Clayton
During this period the general acceptance of forged small denomination coins as they kept regular commerce moving was the thing. Seems it is still easy to get a period iffy coin - I have one such doubtful sixpence.
