Thomas Halliday (c.1780 – c.1854) was an English

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

and

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be int ...

engraver associated with the

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is an art society, based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, where it owns and operates an art gallery, the RBSA Gallery, on Brook Street, just off St Paul's Square. It is both a re ...

. Halliday worked as an engraver at the

Soho Mint Soho Mint was created by Matthew Boulton in 1788 in his Soho Manufactory () in Handsworth, West Midlands, England. A mint was erected at the manufactory containing eight machines, to his own patent design, driven by steam engine, each capable of ...

Handsworth, West Midlands Handsworth () is a suburb and an inner-city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands. Historically in Staffordshire, Handsworth lies just outside Birmingham City Centre and near the town of Smethwick. History The name ''Handsworth'' origina ...

. Following this, he set up his own business moving to numerous locations throughout

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

before settling at

Newhall Street Newhall Street is a street located in Birmingham, England. Newhall Street stretches from Colmore Row in the city centre by St Phillip's Cathedral in a north-westerly direction towards the Jewellery Quarter. Originally the road was the drivew ...

until his death. He had many apprentices including

Peter Wyon Peter Wyon (1767-1822) was an engraver of medals and coins. He was born into a family who had a long tradition of dye-engraving. He was the son of George Wyon, as well as the brother of Thomas Wyon, with whom he went into business for a short time ...

, a member of a large family of engravers.

Engraver of Canadian colonial tokens

Halliday is known to have engraved dies for a number of copper tokens that were used in pre-Confederation Canada. These include the Bust and Commerce series, the Pure Copper Preferable to Paper series, and the “R.H. tokens” among others.

References

Members and Associates of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists 19th-century engravers English engravers People from Handsworth, West Midlands 1780 births 1854 deaths {{England-artist-stub