Token or coin (Anti-slavery or Abolitionist medal)

Description

This late eighteenth century token represents regional currency with a social conscience. It carried the anti-slavery message and campaigns for liberty from religious, political and intellectual spheres into common trade. As stated along the edge, the token was valued as a halfpenny by banks and merchants in Ireland, as were similar private tokens stamped for regions of England and Scotland. The copper coin combined newly-circulating imagery for the Abolition of the Slave Trade on one side with the handshake of friendship first used in antiquity to communicate harmony and agreement for both commercial trade and interrelations of cultures.