Coins, Tokens and Historical Medals

Refreshment and Accommodation, COVENT GARDEN, Low’s Hotel, 1774, copper, by J. Kirk, frontal elevation of building, low’s grand hotel covent garden london and date around, rev. for the reception of noblemen and gentlemen within wreath, edge plain, 34mm, 14.92g (W 2435; D & W 77/225); LAMBETH, Gatti’s Palace of Varieties, brass, gatti’s palace of varieties around refreshments and value, rev. blank, 31mm, 7.98g (W 761); MAYFAIR, Grosvenor House, Big Ben Ball, brass, grosvenor house big ben ball, rev. blank, 30mm, 8.39g [3]. About very fine, last better, second rare £60-£80

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, Tickets and Passes of London from the David Young Collection.

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Provenance: First bt S.H. Monks July 2001; second bt B.M. Greenaway November 2001; last bt May 2006.

Low’s Grand Hotel, 43 King street, proprietor David Low, opened in January 1774; Low became a chiropodist and the owner by 1793 was Charles Richardson (†May 1827: see next Lot). By the early 1850s it had passed into the hands of John ‘Paddy’ Green, who added a new music hall; the acts eventually outgrew the facility, which closed in 1880. Carlo and Giovanni Gatti, previously in the restaurant trade in Hungerford Market until their property was demolished as part of the construction work for Charing Cross railway station, opened a music hall at 214 Westminster Bridge road in 1865, which was rebuilt in 1884 and re-named Gatti’s Palace of Varieties; it closed in 1924. The Big BEN Ball, a highlight of the motor industry social calendar since the 1920s, benefits those who have worked in the industry and their families