REVIEW: BRITISH 17TH CENTURY TRADE TOKENS 26 APRIL

Several of the top lots in this sale scored multiple-estimate hammer prices, illustrating the strength of the market when it comes to the rarer pieces.

Leading the pack was the 1669 halfpenny issued by Dorothy Rossington of Duffield, Derbyshire. Mentioned in the 1884 Numismatic Chronicle, the obverse features a griffin’s head. A very rare token, it was offered with an estimate of £140-180 but sold for £850.

Another exceptional piece was the halfpenny of innkeeper John Cox of Churchyard Alley (off Tooley Street) in Southwark. The reverse depicts a water pump surrounded by the following verse:
the pvmp rvns cleer wth ale & beer. Estimated at £200-300, it took £700.

The Ratcliff Cross farthing, featured in detail in the last newsletter, also went above estimate to sell for £700, while the Leominster halfpenny token issued by Elizabeth Bedford in 1667, and offered together with a 1666 halfpenny of Fran Perse and another by Nathaniell Smith issued in 1667, sold for £650 against hopes of £120-150.