Lot 373
CLOUGHJORDAN, Co. Tip., William Hodgins, Penny, 1858, BANKER, rev. Thistle, rose, and shamrock posy, edge plai…
British 18th and 19th Century Tokens | C25004
Auction: 1 October 2025 at 10:00 BST
Description
CLOUGHJORDAN, Co. Tip., William Hodgins, Penny, 1858, BANKER, rev. Thistle, rose, and shamrock posy, edge plain, 34.5mm/18.7gm. (Batty [in 1869] 906; Macalister 610), Extremely Fine, toned.
The first recording of this token by Newman in 1863 was as Australian, on the grounds that the posy device resembled that on the 1857 pennies of M. Somerville of Auckland, New Zealand. Since then, the token has been continually listed as circulating in Australia although little to no evidence for this has ever been put forward. William Hodgins was a land-owning nurseryman, an agricultural merchant with stores in Cloughjordan and surrounding towns - and he was also a banker, giving credit to local farmers. He did indeed emigrate to Australia during the gold rush but returned to Ireland in 1852 and so with the date of the token being 1858, it is much more likely that this piece has an Irish, rather than Australian relevance.
