British Tokens, Tickets and Passes

19th Century Tokens, Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, ‘John Bastin’, Penny, 1812, St Mary’s Church, rev. legend, edge thin centre-grained, 22.94g/6h (W 672). Legends slightly double-struck, otherwise extremely fine with brown patina, very rare £500-600

Provenance: D.G. Vorley Collection, Part II, Glendining Auction, 2 March 1994, lot 582 (part) [from Spink 1973]; W.J. Noble Collection, Noble Numismatics Pty Auction 58B (Melbourne), 7-8 July 1998, lot 1870; F.W. Gorsler Collection, DNW Auction T12, 3 October 2012, lot 139 [from M.J. Dickinson 2000].

The cataloguer contends that the die-sinker punched the name bastin instead of bishop (John Bishop), otherwise W 672 and 673 share the same dies, although the Bishop pennies are always 3-4g lighter than those naming Bastin. Traces of the a in bastin are visible as an undertype on better examples of the John Bishop pennies. Paul Withers was unable to trace anyone by the name of John Bastin in commerce in Cheltenham at the time