1792 Birmingham halfpenny token overdate.

[Michael-Roo]

Birmingham Mining and Copper Company halfpenny.

Payable at Birmingham, Redruth, Swansea.

The 7 of the date is clearly punched over a 9. Does this overstrike make it a rarity?

[Chris Perkins]

There are so many varieties of this token, and also known forgeries. D&H nos. 77 - 102 plus umpteen forgeries. I would imagine the cocked up date may indicate that it's a counterfeit (which are rarer). You'd probably search long and hard to find someone that specialises in just these Mining and Copper Company tokens in the hopes that he/she would pay above the odds for it.

[Michael-Roo]

Thank you Chris. I just happened to be going through my tray of C18th tokens and noticed this overdate. I've had most of these for 20+ years, so its odd I'd not noticed before. This afternoon I've been consulting the D&H book online and it seems to be No.89, which they list as RRR. Nice to know but of no importance. I'm not looking to sell it.

[Chris Perkins]

Oh yes, it mentions the altered date even! RRR in a recognised and highly regarded work like D&H can't be a bad thing even if some of the R ratings are out of date.

[brg5658]

In my experience with the 18th Century tokens, collectors are more interested in scarce designs, not in scarce varieties (e.g., edge varieties, die markers, overdates, etc). To a very niche collector, your token may be worth a premium over the £10-15 it's currently worth. But, to find that one collector would likely take you months and/or years.