The Token Coinage of Essex in the Seventeenth Century

A brief review of the conditions which rendered necessary the issuing of the tradesmen’s tokens described in the following pages is, I think, desirable, in order that their great numbers, and wide and general circulation, may be understood and accounted for.

If we except the brass, and mixed metal, stycas of Northumberland: and a few pieces of British copper and billon, the coinage of England was, from the earliest times, to the year 1257, entirely of silver; the standard being the penny, which was frequently broken into halves and quarters, for half-pennies and farthings. In 1257 Henry III coined a penny of fine gold, and from the fourteenth century gold has been regularly employed in the coinage. It is true that silver half-pennies were coined as early as Edward I., but they were necessarily very thin and small, and being easily lost were in great disfavour with the people. The continual increase in the value of silver gradually caused the coins to be reduced in size and weight - particularly this was the case in the time of Elizabeth, when the half-penny only weighed four grains.

The absence of small change was naturally most severely felt by the poorer classes, and greatly handicapped the shopkeepers; causing considerable friction between themselves and their customers. Thus it came about in the time of Henry VIII., and more especially in the time of Elizabeth, that tradesmen began to issue stamped pieces of lead, tin, brass and even leather to remedy this evil state of affairs, and these pieces were truly "pieces of necessity" and were tokens or pledges for money; but, of course, not being regal productions, were not actually money. Continual complaints, however, were made about these as they could only be changed at the premises of the issuers, and the name and address not being on them, but only a sign or some initials, they were often a loss to their holders. Proclamations were frequently issued forbidding their use under severe penalties, but the necessity was so great that they were constantly being reissued.

Queen Elizabeth, who always took keen interest in all matters affecting the regal currency, was well aware of the difficulties the poor laboured under for want of small change, but she was so averse to introducing base metal into the coinage that when, in 1574, proposals were made for the coining of half-pennies and farthings in base silver, she would not hear of it; and the scheme had to be abandoned. She, however, granted a license to the Corporation of Bristol to coin farthing tokens which were of copper, and were current in Bristol and the country for 10 miles round that city. Three years before her death the queen was again approached on the subject, but she firmly declared she would never consent to a copper currency.

In the early part of the reign of James I. a number of proposals were put forward, without result, on the subject of a base metal coinage; and the number of leaden tokens greatly increased. At last, in 1613, a patent was granted to Lord Harrington, to coin copper farthings, and the magistrates were commanded to assist in getting them into general circulation; but they never met with public favour, and some counties refused to take them altogether, as reports were spread that they were to be altered, and the old ones would not be taken back.

Charles I., soon after his accession, published a proclamation to continue their currency, and after a time London and the adjacent counties of Essex, Kent and Suffolk had scarcely any silver or gold left: but were loaded up with these farthings, many of which (owing to the great profit in coining them) were counterfeit. The patentees, upon one pretext and another, refusing to exchange gold and silver back again for their farthings, the said farthings were left in great numbers on the subjects hands ; which was ruin to many poor people, caused tumults, and put an entire stop to their currency. These royal tokens were issued at an office in Lothbury, London, which place is still distinguished by the name Token House yard.

On the death of Charles I. tradesmen began to issue the class of tokens which I shall describe in the following pages; and being received again by their issuers were greatly preferred to the former patent farthings. No copper money was issued by the government during the Commonwealth, and therefore small change was entirely supplied by these tokens. They were issued very extensively throughout the kingdom; and increased enormously until the year 1672, when the regal copper farthings and half-pennies of Charles II were issued from the mint, and were made current by a proclamation dated August 16th in that year. These regal coins were to pass in all payments, bargains and exchanges, under the value of sixpence. The making of tokens was strictly forbidden by the same proclamation, and so they disappeared from circulation. They were in circulation a quarter of a century; and, as Boyne remarks, "they originated with a public necessity but in the end became a nuisance." When we consider that these pieces are very small, and intrinsically worthless, and that nearly two centuries elapsed after their issue before much notice was taken of them by numismatists, their rarity is a matter of small wonder.

As I hope to enumerate over four hundred varieties of Essex tokens, the present paper is the first of a series. The publication of such a subject by instalments was necessary owing to the large amount of space it requires in the Transactions of our Society; and was desirable in order that collectors, at present unknown to me, who have unpublished varieties, might have the opportunity of sending me particulars so that the present effort should be made as exhaustive as possible.

Several parishes hitherto unrecorded as token issuing localities, such as Danbury, Fobbing, High Easter, Prittlewell and Walthamstow, will appear in their proper places in the following pages, as well as a number of fresh tokens of places already mentioned by Dr. Williamson in his standard work on the subject, published twenty years ago.

With the exception of seven pieces all the known Essex seventeenth century tokens are circular in form; the seven exceptions comprising three heart-shaped tokens, three octagonal tokens and one square token. These will all be duly noted in their proper places. The earliest date found is 1650, and the latest date, 1671.

I have very carefully collated Dr. Williamson's work, which describes 356 Essex tokens, with several collections and have corrected the same where required. My collection of Essex wills has furnished notes of some of the issuers, and I am indebted to several authorities for other information. The notes have, of necessity, to be very brief. I have also to express my indebtedness to a number of collectors, and others, for their kind assistance; especially the Keeper of the Coins and Medals at the British Museum, who allowed me to carefully examine and compare each Essex token in the national collection; Mr. Guy Maynard, of the Saffron Walden museum, who loaned me the MS. index to the tokens in his care, and afterwards very carefully went through my list of queries; Mr. John Avery, who placed valuable manuscripts at my service; Mr. Stephen Barns and the Rev. Lewis Gantz, who placed their collections at my service ; Mr. R. T. Andrews, who sent me some valuable notes and Messrs. Spink and Son, who sent me information of unpublished tokens that had passed through their hands.

My experience, as a collector of coins and tokens for over twenty years, teaches me that Essex, although prolific in variety, is a very difficult county to form a large, or representative, collection of; so many of the tokens being infrequently met with. My own collection, both as regards number, and condition, is the best I have access to; but there are many tokens of which I have no specimen. I sincerely trust that all collectors, or possessors, of these very interesting little pieces, will correspond with me; as it is only by patience, and collaboration, we can hope to make progress with a study, so much of which has become engulfed by the ever onward march of time.

In conclusion I cannot do better than quote the remarks on the subject of the late Mr. Llewellynn Jewitt;

Issued by the people, they tell of the people; and become imperishable records of that most important estate of the realm … They indicate to us their occupations and their skill; their customs and their modes of life; their local governments, their guilds and trade companies; their habits and sentiments; their trades, their costume, their towns, their families, and their homes.