Gilbert Pidcock (1743–1810) was one of Georgian London's great showmen of exotic animals, and his enterprise survives today largely through the copper tokens he issued to advertise it. Pidcock came up the hard way, touring the English countryside as an itinerant showman before settling in the capital. He began traveling with exotic animals in 1779 and in 1793 purchased Thomas Clark's menagerie at Exeter Change; by 1795 he had taken sole ownership of the London menagerie that would bear his name. His collection included a rhinoceros, kangaroo, zebra, lynx, tigers, and an elephant, advertised in 1808 as "the grandest spectacle in the universe.” To this day, he is known mostly from these condor tokens. Issued during the small-change shortage around 1800,  and with few exceptions, these pieces each depict an animal from the exhibition on both sides. The dies were cut by engraver Charles James and struck by William Lutwyche around 1800.