Part 1
The 1812, 1813, and 1814 Tokens

From the Shield on an 1813 Three Shillings Token

From the Shield on an 1813 Three Shillings Token

     It is interesting to read a letter written on October 27, 1812 from Lieutenant Governor George Don, Government House to Viscount Sidmouth concerning the desire of the States of Jersey to issue a local coin “stamped” with the arms of the Island.  From this letter:

     “Much inconvenience having been felt by the Public here from the great scarcity of specie.  The States met yesterday and passed the enclosed Act, by which Your Lordship will perceive that this assembly is desirous of issuing a local coin provided such a measure should meet with the approbation of His Majesty's Government.

     I have to report to your Lordship that every effort to keep a sufficiency of circulating specie in this island has proved ineffectual and I therefore take the liberty of recommending that the measure now proposed may be sanctioned.

     The States in the first instance intend to cause about six thousand pounds Sterling to be coined in small silver pieces and stamped with the Arms of the Island and to cover the expense of coinage, carriage, freight, and insurance.  The intrinsic worth of the pieces will be a little less than the nominal value at which they will be issued.”⁴

     “I heartily wish that you could get your States to authorize the coinage of Ten Thousand Pounds in Guernsey tokens.  This with the coinage ordered by the Jersey States would set all disputes and differences respecting money matters at rest for ever.

     Yesterday my States passed an act for the additional coinage of tokens to the amount of Ten Thousand Pounds, and it seemed that the opinion of the assembly that in the event of this not proving sufficient for the circulating specie in the Island a further coinage of Ten Thousand Pounds should immediately be ordered.”⁵

     “The coin current in Jersey was, until lately, chiefly that of France, with a small proportion of Spanish money.  The usual amount of specie, in circulation, has been estimated at nearly £80,000 sterling.  After the French revolution, the coin of England became more generally into use, until the increased value of gold and silver completely drained the island of all specie but copper, and even that became scarce.  There were, at this period, three regular banking houses in the town of St.  Helier.  These, and a few mercantile men, were accustomed to issue notes, payable to the bearer on demand, for twenty-four livres French currency.  So great, however, and so increasing were the inconveniences occasioned by the almost total disappearance of silver, that those houses were obliged to issue notes of five and ten shillings: these induced individuals to do the same; all having “Jersey Bank” on their notes; until there were about eighty of these soi disant bankers.  The island was soon inundated with notes, from the value of one pound down to that of one shilling; many of them issued by the lowest description of traders and publicans.  Alarming as this undoubtedly was, necessity gave to these notes a general and ready circulation. 

     Seriously aware of the ultimate consequences, likely to result from this unrestrained emission of paper money, the States resolved to have a silver coin struck: accordingly a quantity of tokens was issued, bearing the value of three shillings, and of eighteen pence English, to the amount of £10,000 sterling.*  The issuing of notes under the value of one pound sterling, was then forbidden; yet such apprehensions respecting the notes still in circulation were excited among the country inhabitants, that those who attended the market, hoarded all the coin and tokens they could procure: this was at least the reason assigned and generally believed, for the disappearance, in a few months, of nearly all the newly coined silver.  The scarcity still continues, though not in the same degree.

* About the value of £2600 sterling has been added.  The States have since made an act, whereby every person issuing notes payable to bearer, is to have a regular office for the payment of them in the town of St. Helier.  In consequence of this regulation, many have withdrawn their notes from circulation.  The rapidly increasing evil is thus checked, but the public security will probably render stricter measures necessary”. 

An 1814 Jersey Bank One Pound Note

     It is of interest to make a comment about the mintage figures quoted in some leading books and journals.  Most sources state that the mintage for the eighteen pence token is 90,800 and the mintage for the three shillings token is 45,400.  These numbers can be traced to a guess by Pridmore.  He first computed the nominal value of these tokens from the January 28, 1834, Jersey Orders of Council and then took a ratio of two eighteen pence tokens to every one three shillings token.⁸  Pridmore also quoted the January 28, 1834, Jersey Orders of Council, stating that the amount of tokens outstanding and not redeemed by the Committee as £1,363/7/6.  This number is incorrect if one can assume that the amount redeemed is correctly stated in the Orders of Council as £12,256/12/6.  Also note that this redeemed amount is mathematically incorrect.  If we assume the redeemed amount is £12,256/11/6, then the computed amount remaining should then be £1314/9.  As James O'Donald Mays states, “Their circulation over a 21-year period meant that few Jersey silver tokens survived in a mint condition.  Although far more than three shillings tokens were struck, they are rarer today than the 18 penny pieces.  A possible explanation is that when the tokens were recalled, holders were more anxious to have their large denominations redeemed than the less valuable 18 penny piece.”⁹  One can only guess at the remaining numbers of these most elusive pieces left for the collector. To learn more about this subject, please read the Royal Mint documents concerning this issue. 

Silver Tokens Production at a Glance

Silver Tokens Production at a Glance

• Both silver tokens are scarce and are extremely rare in an uncirculated state.
• Sir Joseph Banks was sworn to His Majesty's Privy Council on March 29, 1797 and appointed to the Coin Committee to examine the means of procuring a supply of copper coinage.  His other activities on the Coin Committee in 1797 included the production of quantities of copper coins in the Birmingham factory of Matthew Boulton and in 1810 establishing the new Royal Mint on Tower Hill in London. ¹⁰

Eighteen Pence

Eighteen Pence

• Pridmore incorrectly estimated the mintage as 90,800.⁶  From Royal Mint documents the number of coins minted is either 38,739 by value or 38,740 by weight.

From the newspaper “The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction.”
November 26 1836 "Jersey: St. Helier"

Three Shillings

Three Shillings

• Pridmore incorrectly estimated the mintage as 45,400.⁶  By using the Royal Mint documents to compute the mintage, the numbers are by value to be 71,104 and by weight as 71,115.  Thus, we have almost twice as many of the larger tokens minted as that of the smaller piece.
• These tokens were minted in 1813 and 1814.
• Most tokens were weakly struck in the center.
• A few proof examples were struck in copper.

     “The issue of the regal copper coinage of 1797 (known as that of the 'Soho' type), supplied a great want in the national currency; but the expensive warfare of the period, in which this country was engaged, enhanced the price of copper, and much of that heavy coinage, consisting of twopenny and penny pieces, consequently found its way to the smelting houses; while the value of the tokens of the eighteenth century becoming intrinsically enhanced, large quantities of the more honest description of those pieces also disappeared; and the spurious ones, being decried by authority, likewise found their way to the melting-pot. Thus another deficiency in the quantity of the copper currency soon arose.  Eventually, however, the price of copper fell, and then this branch of trade came comparatively depressed, so that, about the year 1811, the large copper companies and other firms, seeing that the change in the value of the metal afforded a favorable opportunity for supplying the deficiency in the circulating medium, took advantage of the circumstance, and commenced striking and issuing a fresh series of provincial copper coins, such pieces constituting the nineteenth century series of tokens proper, as it may be termed.”

• Guernsey has the English spelling, not the French.
• All of the penny tokens have a diameter of 34 mm.
• The diameter of the half penny token is 29 mm.
• The mintages are unknown.

Half Penny

Half Penny

     For token number six, the obverse has a profile of George III laureated.  The legend reads as “JERSEY BANK TOKEN 1812.”  The reverse has in the center “ELIAS NEEL JERSEY.”  The legend is “A BANK OF ENGLAND NOTE FOR 240 TOKENS.”  Elias Neel, a banker in St. Helier, issued this token.  The die sinker of the token was Halliday while the manufacturer was Thomason.¹⁵  Unfortunately, this token has not been seen since 1834.  This and the next three tokens are considered to be part of the Jersey bank token sub-series.  They are all extremely rare and are hardly ever seen outside of captivity.

     For token number seven, the obverse has a draped and laureated bust to the right of George III, with an H on the truncation.  The legend is simply “JERSEY BANK 1813.”  Halliday engraved this die.  On the reverse, there is a robed female figure seated to the left on a bale, holding scales and a cornucopia.  Typical of these coins, the female represents Justice and Plenty.  The legend is “ONE PENNY TOKEN.”  There is only one known specimen available to collectors.

     For token number eight, the obverse has a draped and laureated bust to the right of George III, with no H on truncation.  There are seven leaves in the wreath.  The legend is “JERSEY BANK 1813.”  Halliday also engraved this die.  The reverse is the same as token number seven.

     The obverse of the ninth token also has a draped and laureated bust of George III to the right, with no H on truncation.  There are nine leaves in the wreath.  The legend reads “JERSEY BANK 1813.”  This die was also engraved by Halliday.  The reverse is also the same as token number seven.

     The obverse of the tenth token has a laureated and draped bust to the right of George III, within a wreath of oak.  The reverse is similar to the Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney tokens. Once again, the die was engraved by Halliday.

Druid / 1814 Commerce Penny Token

Druid / 1814 Commerce
Penny Token

North View of St. Aubin's Town
From "A Picture of Jersey; or, Stranger's Companion through that Island (1809)", J. Stead

     The twelfth token has a robed female figure seated to the left on a bale of merchandise, holding an olive branch in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left hand with a ship in the distance.  The legend reads “COMMERCE.”  Halliday engraved this die.  The reverse is similar to the first token with the Prince of Wales' feathers emerging from a coronet.  The motto on the ribbon is “ICH DIEN” and under the crest is the date 1813.  The legend is “TO FACILITATE TRADE.”  Once again, the die was engraved by Halliday. 

     The last token, number 13, for the obverse has a female, Justice, standing holding an olive branch and scales within a wreath of olive and palm branches.  In very small print the words “SHEFFIELD PENNY TOKEN” is beneath the female.  The reverse is similar to the first token with the Prince of Wales' design.

The British Royal Mint, which opened at the Tower Hill location in 1811, struck Jersey silver tokens in 1813 and 1814.

The Obverse of the 1813 Half Penny Token

The Reverse of the 1813 Half Penny Token

From the Guernsey Jersey Magazine 1837 Volume III
edited by Jonathan Buncan

From the Guernsey Jersey Magazine
(continued)

From the Guernsey Jersey Magazine
(continued)

From the Guernsey Jersey Magazine
(continued)

From the Guernsey Jersey Magazine
(continued)

From the Guernsey Jersey Magazine
(continued)









An 1813 Jersey Bank One Pound Note

An 1813 Proof 18 Pence Token

1.  Richard Sainthill, Olla Podrida; or Scraps, Numismatic, Antiquarian, and Literary (London, 1844), p. 27.

2.  Societe Jersiaise Numismatic Section, Royal Mint Documents 1812-1814.  Occasional Papers No. 4.

3.  Lieutenant Colonel W. Marshall-Fraser, "The Coinages of the Channel Islands," Societe Guernesiasie, Report and Transactions, 1948, p. 321.

4.  Jersey Heritage Trust L/F/95 General Don Collection L/F/95/B/21 Letter from Lieutenant General George Don, Government House to Viscount Sidmouth concerning the States of Jersey's desire to issue a local coin stamped with the arms of the Island, includes a copy of the act of the States 1812.

5.  Jersey Heritage Trust L/F/95 General Don Collection L/F/95/B/29 Letter from Lieutenant General George Don, Government House to 'My dear Sir' concerning a memorandum relating to Jersey Revenues about the import on spirits; also concerns the possibility of Guernsey producing coinage of £10,000 and the passing of an act in Jersey for additional coinage, and quarantine on all vessels arriving from the Mediterranean in 1813.

6.  Lieutenant Colonel W. Marshall-Fraser, "The Coinages of the Channel Islands," Societe Guernesiasie, Report and Transactions, 1948, p. 309.

7.  Lieutenant Colonel B. Lowsley, The Coinages of the Channel Islands (London:  Victoria Printing Works, 1897), p. 36.

8.  Fred Pridmore, The Coins of The British Commonwealth of Nations, Part 1:  European Territories (London:  Robert Stockwell Ltd., 1960), p. 45.

9.  James O'Donald Mays, Tokens of Those Trying Times, A Social History of Britain's 19th Century Silver Tokens. (Hampshire, 1991) p. 160.

10.  Sir Joseph Banks - Papers, 1767-1882.  Papers concerning coinage and the Royal MInt, 1787-1813.  State Library of New South Wales (see Series 84.21 frames CY 3684 / 220 and CY 3684 / 221).

11.  Private correspondence between H. K. Fears and Paul Withers.

12.  A. L. T. McCammon, Currencies of the Anglo-Norman Isles (London:  Spink & Son Ltd., 1984), p. 194.

13.  Ken Elks, Coinage of Great Britain. Celtic to Decimalisation, Part 9, Provincial Token Coinage. http://www.predecimal.com/p9tokens.htm.

The Obverse from an 1813 Three Shillings Token

The Reverse from an 1813 Three Shillings Token

An 1815 Jersey Bank One Pound Note



East View of St. Brelade's Church
From "A Picture of Jersey; or, Stranger's Companion through that Island (1809)", J. Stead