PREVIEW: BRITISH TOKENS, TICKETS AND PASSES 24 JANUARY

Although it carries no date, the manufacture of this token from the celebrated clockmaker Joseph Knibb can be pinned down to a two-year period from 1668-70.

The clue to this is the word ‘in’ on the reverse, an indication that Knibb had finally been granted the freedom to trade in the city of Oxford.

Born in 1640, it is thought that he had been an apprentice to his cousin Samuel Knibb in Buckinghamshire, completing his training around 1662 before moving to Oxford. There he worked beyond the city limits in St Clement’s to avoid trading restrictions. This angered his rivals in the city, who disapproved of a clockmaker being permitted to trade who had not served his apprenticeship there.

Records show that Knibb was able to circumvent the city’s rules by gaining employment as a gardener at Trinity College in 1666. Despite being proposed for the Freedom of the City by the mayor early the next year, Knibb came up against a petition from the watchmakers, and it took another 12 months before he succeeded.

It was at this time that he altered the signature on his clocks from ‘of Oxford’ to ‘in Oxford’.

At the same time, a legacy of the interregnum was the shortage of low value coinage: with the restoration of the monarchy, currency issued under Cromwell had been withdrawn from circulation.

To solve the problem, traders issued their own tokens, which could be spent locally, a practice that was eventually banned in 1674.

Within two years of winning the Freedom of the City of Oxford, Knibb had moved to London, possibly to take over the business of his cousin Samuel, who had just died.

This allows us to narrow the likely date of issue of the token to that two-year period.

With a small chip to the edge, the farthing token is otherwise in good to very fine condition, with strong detail and is very rare. The estimate is £1,800-2,200.