1794 Cent Talbot, Allum & Lee, BN (Regular Strike)

The 1794 Talbot, Allum & Lee Cent without NEW YORK above the ship on the reverse is the rarest of all the "regular-issue" Talbot tokens. The rarity of this variety can be blamed on a massive die failure on the right side of the obverse, resulting in a shifting of a large portion of the die.

The Talbot, Allum & Lee Cents were made in England at the request of the New York firm of Talbot, Allum & Lee for use as One Cent pieces in their business. The Talbot, Allum & Lee Cents belong to a series of tokens known, collectively, as Conder Tokens (named after James Conder, who compiled a listing of the several thousand types and varieties). As a result, the TAL token dies were often muled with incongruous other Conder Token dies and/or the edges are inconsistent with the original intent.

Perhaps the most curious association with regular U.S. coins is that many of the 1795 TAL cents were cut down, then used as planchets for Half Cents in 1795 and 1797. On many such coins, much of the original undertype is still visible on one or both sides of the Half Cents.