Great Britain ND (ca 1790) Halfpenny Conder Token, Warkwickshire, Birmingham, Free School-Kempson’s DH-200 MS64BN PCGS. Obv. FREE SCHOOL with detailed building. Rev. Kempson’s Die No. 3 (Dalton and Hamer 2015 edition, page 280): Shield of arms, inner circle MAKER OF BUTTONS * MEDALS &c. BIRMINGHAM, upper arc P. KEMPSON. The upright of the last N is re-engraved, if anyone cares. Edge: Plain. Much prooflike billiance on highly lustrous, well-struck surfaces. PCGS Population: 3 in 64BN, 0 finer (10/2019).
Background: Peter Kempson (1755–1824) was a prolific issuer of Conder tokens, most notably buildings and bridges, gates etc. in London and Birmingham. (Many of the early makers of Conder tokens, including Matthew Boulton of the Soho (Birmingham) Mint, started out making metallic buttons, which after all was a similar process in many ways to striking coins and medals.)