Myddleton Tokens

About This Coin

Produced at Matthew Boulton's celebrated Soho Mint in Birmingham, England, and engraved by the renowned Conrad Heinrich Küchler, Myddleton Tokens represent some of the finest medallic artistry applied to any token in the early American series. Weighing 13 grams with a 29 mm diameter, these tokens were commissioned by Philip Parry Price Myddleton, a Welsh entrepreneur who had acquired extensive land holdings in Kentucky and sought to promote colonial settlement on his American properties. The obverse features a strikingly beautiful figure of Hope standing at the prow of a ship, while the reverse depicts a scene of frontier settlement with workers clearing land — imagery designed to attract British emigrants to Myddleton's Kentucky development scheme. The Soho Mint, operated by Boulton and his partner James Watt (of steam engine fame), was the most technologically advanced minting facility in the world during the 1790s, and Küchler's engraving brought exceptional artistry to the token's designs. Within the Post-1776 Private and Regional Issues (1778-1820) series, Myddleton Tokens stand apart for their extraordinary production quality and the clarity of their historical narrative — they are simultaneously promotional pieces for a specific land development project and outstanding examples of late 18th-century British medallic art applied to an American commercial enterprise.