Obv: A sailor seizing a landsman, BRITISH LIBERTY DISPLAYED around, 1795 in exergue. Rev: A reclining shepherd. Edge: PAYABLE IN LONDON and engrailed.
Uncirculated and Choice brown. Well struck.
Known as the first socialist, Thomas Spence was a thorn in the side of the crown during his time. His shop, ‘The Hive of Liberty’, was the source of his publication, ‘Pig’s Meat, or Lessons for the Swinish Multitude, Collected by the Poor Man’s Advocate’. After he declared bankruptcy, he sold his dies to Peter Skidmore, who would proceed to mule his dies with others, creating a whole different take on Spence’s dies.