Matthew Boulton’s 1799 and 1780 quick and cheap production and distribution of 42 million halfpennies and 4.2 million farthings effectively resolved a serious longstanding counterfeit problem for those coins. The Peck, KH16 coins provide one example of “Pattern” Early Soho coins which might well have been produced for the nascent “commemorative” coin market.
BNS Research Blog 