15th February 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of Decimal Day in the UK – when the system of pounds, shillings and pence that Samuel Johnson would have been familiar with were replaced with our current coinage. To mark the day we look at Johnson’s appearances on tender in the Museum collection, over two centuries apart.
In April 2005 the Royal Mint produced a special coin to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the publication of Johnson’s Dictionary of the English Language. The coin was designed by artist and Royal Academician Tom Phillips and features part of Johnson’s Dictionary definitions for ‘Fifty’ and ‘pence’
The coin was the result of a competition involving five artists. They were briefed at Dr Johnson’s House in Gough Square, and encouraged to think of the coin as not only a way of honoring Johnson as an individual but also as a celebration of the English language. Some of the proposed designs included portraits of Johnson, some books, and some took inspiration from the garret rooms that the Dictionary was created in. Thirty drawings were submitted in total. An independent panel selected Tom Phillips as the winner, liking his “highly appropriate idea” of using the definitions.
The current Dictionary room at the Birthplace was unveiled during this anniversary year and the displays contain a special 22 carat gold version of the Philips 50p coin, one of a limited edition of 1,000.
The Museum collection also contains a large plaster cast model of the coin, which was gifted to the Birthplace by the Royal Mint in 2005. A display about the new coin tied in perfectly with the admission policy at the Birthplace, as free admission was introduced in the same year.
2005 was not the first time that Johnson had inspired a coin design. Over 200 years previously he appeared on a halfpenny token which was in use across the Midlands, and beyond.
Between 1787 and 1797, seven different version of a token appeared including Johnson’s portrait. Until a change in law in 1800, provincial tokens were often used to combat high levels of counterfeiting and as a solution to an inadequate supply of official coinage. These tokens were used to pay wages and in exchange for goods.
The Johnson tokens were struck by a pub landlord based on Moor Street in Birmingham named Henry Biggs. Markings on the rim indicate that they were valid in Birmingham, Lichfield and Wolverhampton. One design was also valid in London.
The Birthplace collection holds nine Johnson halfpennies, representing three of the seven designs which were in circulation. The front all have the same bust of Johnson, either left or right facing, and the main difference is in the reverse design. The most common design shows three lions rampant, a less common version has laurel branches, and three of the Birthplace set were payable in London and have Britannia on the reverse.
James Boswell saw the inclusion of Johnson on a coin as “proof of the popularity of his character” and this was still the case over 200 years later. The Royal mint produced 17,649,000 of the 2005 anniversary coins, so it still makes a regular appearance in our pockets and purses today.
