1795 THE WHITE NEGRESS. Rare Halfpenny "House of Curiosities" Token to See Albino Black Woman in London

1795 Mrs. Newsham – The White Negress. Rare Halfpenny Token Exploiting Race.

Very desirable 1795 token, being the first metal depiction of an African with albinism and a very early, some indicate the first, metal usage of race for marketing purposes other than slavery. In later years, she seems to have become her own manager and rented herself and her likeness for compensation.

Amelia Lewsham or Newsham, kown as “the white negress,” was born in Jamaica about 1748 to a black couple from whom she inherited a recessive gene causing albinism. She was described as being ‘as fair as the fairest among the Europeans,’ though her features were those of her parents, of west African origin. Her mother was a house slave of Sir Simon Clarke, sixth baronet, who lived in Spanish Town.

In 1753 Clarke sent her to England, to his son Kingsmill Clarke of the Inner Temple. He sold Amelia to John Bennett or Burnet, who kept a bird and beast shop off St Martin’s Lane in London. Kingsmill Clarke asked for 400 guineas, although Amelia was probably bought for less. Amelia became famous. She, and I quote, ‘had the Honour to be shewn to the Royal Family, and to the Royal Society’, well, to them and to an ordinary person prepared to pay 1 shilling. She also toured the country and on 17 April 1766 was baptized in St Lawrence’s, Exeter, Devon, under the name Amelia Harlequin. She believed, like many black people, that baptism made her free and at this point she either fled or was released from John Burnet and began to sell her presence and likeness.

By 1795, she was working at the House of Curiosities run by Thomas Hall at No. 10 City Road in London. Several visitors made note of a verse she recited:

My nose, my lips, my features, all explore,
The just resemblance of a blackamore;
And on my head the silver-coloured wool
Gives further demonstration clear and full.
This curious age may with amazement view
What after ages won’t believe is true.

It was Mr. Hall who issued the current token. Issued in copper, the front reads, Mrs. Newsham The White Negress, text surrounding a full body image of Mrs Newsham. Her blackness is evidenced by what is likely exaggerated facial structure and her whiteness by the presence of formal clothing and shoes. It is likely that the image was not intended to be accurate, but the portray in monochromatic relief her “dual identity.”

The reverse reads, “To be had at the Curiosity House City Road” surrounded “Near Finsbury Square London 1795.”

A good example of a rare item. The front image having one small indentation at 12:30 as shown with some general softening of the figure from handling, a bit dirtied. The image very well-preserved. The rear image is, as usual, soft toward the center and upper left. This was apparently a production issue with the coin as most examples have similar patterns of inconsistent textual depth.