17th C British Tokens | UK | Whitmore Coins Tokens and Medals

17th Century Token 1669 Norfolk Yarmouth 286
Price£20.00
17th Century Token Alton 5 1652 Town Farthing I.H.T.B / WWT
Price£8.00
17th Century Token Clacton Much Clafton 242 1664 William Munt / M / W
Price£47.00
17th Century Token Sussex Chichester 62 ½d 1667 Thomas Spatehurst. His Half Peny
Price£53.00
17th Century Token Canterbury 54 Tho Enfield in Mercury Grocers Arms 1666
Price£32.00
17th Century Token London 3296 Wapping Edward Fish ¼ / Sun in Splendor
Price£8.00
17th Century Token Cambridge 72 Thomas Powell Lozenge of 9 Lozenges - Rare
Out of stock
17th Century Token Thrapston 156 William Willmot. Swan depicted / W W 1666
Price£31.00
17th Century Token Tenterden 551 Iames Mead 1667 Angel / His Half Peny
Price£45.00
17th Century Token Soham (Cambs) 171 1654 Hovell Ioanes Grocers arms
Price£20.00
17th Century Token Royston (Herts) 161 Edward Crouch. Stick of candles
Out of stock
17th Century Token Ludlow 25 1664 Iohn Bowdler Mercer Arms/ His half peny.
Out of stock
17th Century Token London 3118 Themes Street 1651 / The Lyon & Key - Brass
Price£18.00
17th Century Token Hitchin 120 Andrew Langley. Two sugar loaves 1667. Rare
Price£20.00
17th Century Token Chatham 106 Francis Sanders. Merchant Taylors Arms / S / F A
Price£20.00
17th Century Token Barkway (Herts) 17 Iohn Kent 1667 / Grocer K / I S
Price£30.00
17th Century Token Yeovil 326 1668 ¼d Town issue. Crown over FR. Portreeve
Out of stock
17th Century Token Freshford (Somerset) 124 1663 John Curle Senior. Bell
Price£22.00
17th Century Token Worcester 167 William Swift. W S monogram Norweb 5767
Out of stock
17th Century Token Worcester 160 ½ 1662 Will Swift. His Half Peny / City Arms
Out of stock
17th Century Token Worcester 126 ½d Richard Bedoes. City Arms / Mercers Arms.
Out of stock
17th Century Token Worcester 122 1667 Farthing. Falcon over Castle Norweb 5733
Out of stock
17th Century Token Ramsgate 453 1658 Clement March at. Cheese knife / Romansgate
Price£18.00
17th Century Token Deal 154 Thomas Parksoen Grocers Arms / 1658 P / T R In Dell
Price£38.00
17th Century Token Cirencester 63 Thomas Perry 3 Doves / In Cirencisiter P / T A
Out of stock
17th Century Token Witham 352 1668 Richard Swinborne His Half Peny A Hart Lodged
Price£26.00
17th Century Token Rowley Regis 46 William Russell / His Halfpeny 1667 - Rare
Price£180.00
17th Century Token London 2966 1669 Elles Crispe at ye Black / Boy in the Strand
Out of stock
17th Century Token Doncaster 77 Benjamin Marshall. Angel.
Out of stock
17th Century Token Colchester 156 James Tayspell North / Gate. I T both sides
Price£35.00
17th Century Token Worcester 122 1667 Farthing. Falcon over Castle Norweb 5733
Out of stock
17th Century Token Farnham 79 Iames Hunt. Castle Norweb 4580.
Price£42.00
17th Century Token Farnham 77 ¼d 1658 John Holloway - Stick of candles/ IMH etc.
Out of stock
17th Century Token Dorchester Dorset 53 1669 ¼d A Dorchester Farthing H.D. Arms
Price£16.00
17th Century Token Kendal 9 1667 James Cocke ivnour. Cock depicted / of Kendall
Out of stock
17th Century Token Gravesend 294 1658 William Crouch Bird in Hand
Price£25.00
17th Century Token Bampton the Bush (Oxon) 3 Simon Bassett 1669 Pheonix in Flame
Out of stock
17th Century Token Leicester 54 Samvell Willson Baker’s Arms. Norweb 2848
Out of stock
17th Century Token Leicester 53 Thomas Stvrges. Norweb 2846 - From worn dies
Price£21.00
17th Century Token Biddenden 25 Alexander Homesby His Halfe Penny H AH in Kent
Out of stock
17th Century Token Winslow (Bucks) 145 Mathew Bishop 3 Boar’s heads 1666
Price£19.00
17th Century Token Aynhoe (Northants) Bell 1668 At Ayno on the Hill
Price£42.00

THE FIRST PRIVATE TOKENS

There is evidence of privately issued leaden tokens at or before this time, as some of the legislation was aimed at suppressing them in favour of the official farthings, but the few that have survived are so crudely made and cryptically designed that very little can now usefully be said of them.

The first tokens that were made in the same way as coins, in being struck from dies and carrying statements about their issuers and values, appeared during the Cromwellian Commonwealth in the middle of the seventeenth century. Despite being completely illegal they satisfied a vital economic need and a vast number of types exist, probably as many as 20,000, of which over half are from the vicinity of London. Although not much more substantial than the earlier regal tokens, they found greater acceptance possibly because they were local issues by someone at least nominally responsible for their redemption. Considering their small size and the rather primitive technology available to make them, they could convey a surprising amount of information. As well as the issuer's name and place of business, they might add his occupation, the date, the arms of his merchant guild, the initials of his and his wife's names arranged in a conventional triangular form, and a redemption promise such as his - sometimes her - halfpenny. This insight into the everyday life of the merchant class 350 years ago, along with a unique view of the commercial history of towns and villages throughout the country, added to the extreme rarity of so many of the issues, has long fascinated collectors. They deserve the status accorded them as the classic token series.

TOWN ISSUES

In addition to the issues of individual merchants and traders many town authorities issued tokens. The Elizabethan poor laws placed a responsibility on every parish to maintain anyone born there who became destitute. Before the erection of workhouses this could only be achieved by giving goods or money, so the availability of small change was vital to the smooth running of the system. Many of the town tokens mention the poor in their legends, and they occur in larger numbers than most private issues. The corporation of Bristol, then England's second city, was a particularly prolific issuer.

CHARLES II

The tokens continued even when the Commonwealth ended upon the restoration of Charles II, but they did not please everyone. They broke important principles of intrinsic value and royal authority, and they might be refused if taken any distance from where the issuer lived; but the tokens persisted despite official attempts to suppress them as long as the need for them remained unfilled by any other means. In 1672 the authorities took the bull by the horns and at last issued copper halfpennies and farthings of a substantial size. Even these did not contain their full value in copper but they were far larger than any of the coins or tokens that had preceded them. Once the new coins became freely available the private tokens were no longer either needed or acceptable, and they rapidly disappeared from circulation.