Wilkinson 1/2d Token Vulcan at Forge VF

We have another copper token, this time issued by John ‘Iron Mad’ Wilkinson. John Wilkinson was born in 1728, the son of Isaac Wilkinson, a furnace worker. John also worked at the foundry and learned from an early age the science of working with metals. He rose through the ranks up to the management of a number of ironworks until he eventually entered into partnerships with his own furnaces in various locations in Shropshire where he was also one of the main driving forces in the building of the famous Iron Bridge over the river Severn at Broseley. He, too, saw the opportunities from issuing his own tokens to use as a form of payment but also for self-advertising. So much so, he even had his own portrait stamped on the coins with the words JOHN WILKINSON, IRON MASTER. He issued three main types of token and we can offer two of them here, they both have his effigy on the obverse and on the reverse a different forge scene.