Skidmore's Halfpenny D&H513

Middlesex Skidmore's Halfpenny
A guillotine / Louis XVI & M. Antoinette bust
Edge: Milled
Dalton & Hamer: 513

The halfpenny was issued by Peter Skidmore in 1795.

The front side shows a guillotine on a scaffold and a building on the left. To the right of the guillotine is a basket for a severed head. A similar design was used in Halifax and was known as The Maiden or Scottish Maiden. A similar device is shown in Heinrich Aldegrever's engraving "The Death of the Son of Titus Manlius" in 1553. In France, the guillotine was first used on April 25, 1792 for the execution of the common thief Nicolas Pelletier in the Place de Greve.

The reverse side depicts the French king Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette, who were executed on the same guillotine in 1793.