Tokens from the Late David Griffiths Collection

Numismatists Tokens and Ephemera, NORTHUMBERLAND, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, John Bell, Farthing (?), in lead, sailing barge, rev. coaly tyne, edge plain, 7.09g/12h (Davisson, CTCJ 66, p.8; W p.134; D 29; cf. DNW 141, 1049). Obverse fair, reverse better than fine, extremely rare; sold as viewed and not subject to return £50-£70

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tokens from the Late David Griffiths Collection.

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Provenance: L.L. Fletcher Collection; F.S. Cokayne Collection [from L.L.F. June 1916]; bt Baldwin May 1985.

John Bell (1783-1864), bookseller, antiquary and numismatist, firstly of Newcastle and, after being declared bankrupt in November 1817, later a land surveyor at Gateshead. The status of this, and other related pieces, is uncertain. Withers opined that they are fantasies struck for collectors (of whom John Bell was one) but Davisson has shown that it is apparently of the period, or at least dates to some time in the early 19th century