wasn't it the Queen of England at that time very much opposed to slavery and had coins made protesting it? Anyone know more about this "coin?"
Thats cool. Haven't seen that one before but there are a couple others i have seen. " am i not a woman" "am i not a man" ,,, i think they're popular among CWT collectors. Have about 275.00 ready if you want just a pretty good example. So.... I'm thinkng the one you posted is even more rare.
And this one has the same reverse but different obverse https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces200533.html
I think it ties in with this coin from Sierra Leone. I read this one as less of anti-slavery and more of a sinister movement to move a segment of the population out of Britain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Leone
I did not. Honestly I'm just a little jealous. I have a couple of these in my watchlist but keep spending all my weekly coin budget on colonials. I'm gonna own one someday.
Don't know what the Queen felt about it one way or the other, and she wouldn't have issued any coins. The power on the throne at the time was King George III. This was also about 12 years before Great Britain outlawed the slave trade. As for the token, it is a half penny attributed to the county of Middlesex in England and is a mule made by William Lutwyche. The side with the dove and date is the reverse die for a token made for the London Corresponding Society, and the clasped hands die is a reverse die for a token made for the Anti-Slavery Society. This token was not actually made for either society but more as just another variety to be sold to collectors. Collecting these provincial tokens was a popular fad at the time and manufacturers often created mules. varieties to feed the market. The token is cataloged in Dalton and Hammer as Middlesex 289 and it comes with seven different edge varieties. the rarity varies depending on the edge variety. What is on yours?
Plain edge not in collar, that makes it D&H 289f which is rated as scarce (289d & e are the common ones. 289, 289a & c are very rare, and 289b is also scarce.) Scarce would be roughly equal to R-4 on the Sheldon scale about 76 to 200 estimated to exist.
No Great Britain beat us to it. They outlawed the slave trade (in Great Britain) in 1807 or 8 and outlawed slavery completely around 1826.
thank you for your input and education on this, to be honest I am happy you said "common one" I was more afraid you'd say "counterfeit"
Here is the British piece you see most frequently at the shows. One of the leaders of the anti-slavery movement was Joseph Westwood who was the famous china maker. And the American version which was distributed by the Anti-Slavery Society. The government shut down this operation before they could issue very many of the "Am I a man and a brother" pieces.