[5] By the late 18th century this policy had caused a deficiency in the number of circulating pennies, and many merchants and mining companies had taken to issuing their own copper tokens.

[6] In 1797 to alleviate this coin shortage, the government authorised Matthew Boulton to strike copper pennies and twopences at his Soho Mint in Birmingham.

To thwart the further issuance of private tokens, in 1817 an act of Parliament was passed which forbade their manufacture under severe penalties.

In 1857, a survey by the Royal Mint found that around one-third of all copper coinage had become worn or mutilated, often by advertisements.

[1] The obverse features a right-facing portrait of George III, and incused into the rim are the words GEORGIUS III·D·G·REX.

The initial K appears on the lowest fold of the drapery at the base of the effigy, indicating that the design is the work of the German engraver Conrad Heinrich Küchler.

[1] The reverse, also designed by Kuchler,[1] shows a left-facing seated figure of Britannia, with a trident held loosely in her left hand and an olive branch in her outstretched right.