Gardens, BERMONDSEY, Bermondsey Spa Gardens, Thomas Keyse, copper Halfpenny, 1796, t. keys bermondsey spa garden, rev. two clarinets and French horn around flaming heart, dated 1786 around, edge plain, 9.86g/1h (W 1303, and p.178, this piece illustrated; Young, Gardens, p.81, this piece illustrated; DH Surrey 4 bis II; D & W –; cf. R.S. Brown 720). Usual die flaw on obverse, about extremely fine and patinated, extremely rare £400-500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection.

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Provenance: A Collection of 18th Century Trade Tokens, Part 2, Mark Rasmussen FPL 9, Spring 2006 (C 313).

The Gardens were opened by Thomas Keyse (1722-1800), a self-taught artist, in 1766. Initially a tea garden, the discovery of a mineral spring aided its popularity and by 1784 it had become a pleasure ground. By the turn of the 19th century its popularity had declined and it was closed c. 1806