Lowestoft Halfpenny D&H37

On the front side of the token in the foreground there is a boat with fishermen engaged in fishing, in the background there is a smack and a three-masted lugger. The circle legend wishes SUCCESS TO THE FISHERIES. The customer of the token was Robert Peach, a hereditary fisherman who has at his disposal several fishing vessels, as well as a large herring and mackerel trader in the port of Lowestoft (one of the largest fishing ports in England), Suffolk.

On the back, three sailing ships are depicted in the background, and two bathing machines on the beach in the foreground. In the 18th-19th centuries, bathing machines were used to swim on sea beaches, allowing men and women to bathe, while maintaining the rules of decency of those times. They were a covered wagon with wooden or canvas walls. Those who wished to swim would go into the bathing car on the shore in everyday clothes, change into a bathing suit in it, then the car would descend into the water with the help of horses or using rails. In the water, the bathing machine turned around so that the bather descending into the water along the steps was not visible from the shore. Bathing machines were often equipped with a flag, which was raised by the bather as a signal of readiness to return to shore.

Designer: Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827). Publisher: Thomas Tegg : Cheapside. A hand-coloured print of a group of men avidly watching naked women bathing in the sea. Bathing machines stand on the shoreline. The men hold telescopes to ther eyes to get a closer view. An angry wife hits her husband with her parasol. Another group of men stand on top of the roof of a Circulating Library also with telescopes as they watch the women. Inscribed in the plate: 211 / Rowlandson Del / Price one shilling coloured / Pub[lishe]d September 1st 1813 by Thos Tegg No 111 Cheapside.

Token engraver Davies, manufacturer Good.

Dalton & Hamer: 37