18th Century Tokens, Coventry, Thomas Sharp, Halfpenny, 1797, female seated against a distant view of the city, rev. Georgian house with man leaning from window, edge lettered (DH 312). Almost extremely fine, very rare (£200-250)

Provenance:
‘Warwickshire’ Collection, Glendining Auction, 13 May 1981, lot 209;
P.C. Deane Collection.

48 struck. Thomas Sharp (1770-1841), antiquarian and numismatist, author of the Chetwynd catalogue of tokens. The Georgian house where Sharp was born is said to have been the same building from which the Peeping Tom watched Lady Godiva ride naked through the streets of Coventry; the man leaning from the window on the token is supposed to represent the Peeping Tom