17thC Trade Tokens and farthings

There was a dire shortage of coins of small denominations, such as a housewife needed for everyday shopping, a problem that had been increasing since James I’s day. The few copper farthings produced were all under license to various nobles, and the supply of them was not sufficient to fill the demand. Shopkeepers evolved a pragmatic solution: trade tokens. In the 1660’s there were 3,543 ‘tokeners’ in the City of London, its suburbs and Westminster.

These tokens were usually made of lead, tin or copper, although some were of leather. They were usually worth a halfpenny or farthing (only the coffee-houses found it worthwhile to issue 1 penny tokens). They were small and came in a variety of shapes – round, heart-shaped, diamond, square or hexagonal. Shopkeepers kept boxes with compartments for each issuer (usually only for those tokeners in the same area, not all 3,543!) When they had enough they returned them to the issuer, who changed them for silver or notes of hand. In March 1668, Prince Rupert and the Duke of Norfolk suggested to the King that they should make ‘current farthings’ to prevent ‘the loss and inconvenience by private tokens in case of removals etc., as appeared in the late Fire of London.’ However, it was not until 1672 the mint started issuing the first copper farthings. The following references may be of help if readers wish to pursue the interest further:

The Provincial Token-Coinage of the Eighteenth Century, by Dalton & Hamer
British Tokens and Their Values, Seaby
The Nineteenth Century Token Coinage by W.J.Davis
Silver Token-Coinage 1811-1812 by R.Dalton

Norweb Collection - Vol 1 to 5 Tokens of the British Isles 1575 - 1750

This is a very rare 17thC trade token as the Norweb ref books do not show any tokens issued for Hadleigh - great find

1667 Thomas Martin of Hadleigh Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Obv THOMAS MARTIN

Rev TS

1667 OF.HADLEIGH

Unlisted in Norweb 17thC John Hubert , IHB - hammered copper trade farthing

1653 Hammered copper trade farthing - unlisted in ref books - Norweb

Obv THM

Thomas MVDBAT ?

Rev Long +

17thC Colchester Essex and surrounding areas - hammered copper trade coins

17thC Michael Arnold of Colchester Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Ref Norweb 1157b

1666 Giles Tayspill of Colchester Essex hammered copper trade half penny

'His half penny'

17thC Joseph Wolford, Mercers of Toppesfield Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Norweb Fig 1407 Part II

17thC William Ambrose hammered copper trade farthing

Norweb i 549

17thC Christopher Bayles of Colchester hammered copper trade farthing

17thC Richard Bush in Colchester hammered copper trade farthing

Norweb 1164

1656 Richard Rich of Colchester Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Ref Norweb 1216

1668 Voll Abraham of Colchester Essex hammered copper farthing

Ref Norweb 1233a

1666 'His half penny' hammered copper trade half penny

Polock 'Thisellworth'

17thC John King, grocer of Colchster Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Ref Norweb 1185

17thC Jonas Whale baker of Colchester hammered copper trade farthing

Rev IWS

Norweb 1234a

1668 Alex Satterthwaite Colchester hammered copper trade half penny

17thC Isaac Colman, grocer of Colchester Essex hammered copper trade farthing

1667 Isaac Colman, grocer of Colchester in Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Norweb Ref 1171

1654 Theo Lambe of Colchester Essex hammered copper trade farthing

St Botolph's Gate neighbourhood

AT BVTTIS GATE

1667 Isaac Coleman grocer hammered copper trade farthing

1667 Alaba Langley, bay maker of Colchester Essex hammered copper trade farthing

1656 John Lambe of Colchester copper trade farthings

Robert Walford if Castle Hedingham

17thC Robert Walford of Castle Hedingham hammered copper trade farthing

Spelt Heningham

Norweb 1300a

Raven Tavern of Gloucester

1650 Raven Tavern of Gloucester was held by William Warwick - hammered copper trade farthing

Rev WWA

Norweb 1676a

Elias Moortier of Colchester

William Moore, bays maker of Colchester

17thC William Moore , bays maker of Colchester Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Norweb Fig 1202 Part II

John Lawerence of Colchester

1653 John Sewell, grocer of Colchester

Nathaniel Lawrence of Colchester

1665 William Ferris of Colchester

1665 William Ferris of Colchester hammered copper trade farthing with a William Moore bays maker back - Wrong dies used

obv FWM with rev MWM ?

17thC Vol Jacob baymaker Colchester hammered farthing- undated type

Ref Norweb 1230

0.75g

Thomas Reynolds, bays maker of Colchester

1666 Tomas Peeke of Colchester trade farthing

Habbakkuk Leyman of East Bergot 1649-1672

Henry Lamb of Colchester trade farthing

17thC Manningtree copper trade farthings

Henry Carter Surgeon

1669 Manningtree - Carter Henry, surgeon (CHYRVRGEON) 'His halfpenny' hammered copper trade token

Volume II - 1319a Barber/Surgeon

1669 Manningtree - Carter Henry, surgeon (CHYRVRGEON) 'His halfpenny' hammered copper trade token

Volume II - 1319a Barber/Surgeon

1653 Jeremy Erds

1653 Jeremy Erds of Manningtree Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Obv I.E 1653

1653 Jeremy Erds of Manningtree Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Obv I.E 1653

Thorpe le Soken copper trade farthing

17thC Joh Smith, chandler of Thorpe Le Soken Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Obv ISS

Reg Norweb 1402

1665 William Reeca of Barking Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Obv WRV

Braintree copper trade farthing

17thC Thomas Adbrooke of Braintree Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Norweb Ref 1109

Harwich copper trade farthing

1666 John Rolfe of Harwich Essex hammered copper trade farthing

1664 William Herbert of Harwich Essex hammered copper trade farthing

1652 John Vanewall of Harwich Essex , (W/IM) hammered copper trade farthing

17thC Chelmsford copper trade farthings

17thC Dedham copper trade farthings

1656 Samuel Salter of Dedham copper trade farthing

Joseph Gleson of Dedham copper trade farthing

Nathaniel Backler of Dedham copper trade farthing

17thC Sible Hedingham copper trade farthing

 17thC Thomas Hewes, of Hedingham Castle hammered trade farthing

17thC Clacton copper trade farthings

1664 William Munt of Clacton 0.92g

Legend - MVCH CLAFTON IN ESSEX

17thC Harwich copper trade farthings

17thC Wivenhoe copper trade farthing

17thC Falcon, Parker John of Wevenhoe ( Wivenhoe) Copper trade farthing

P IM - Ref Norweb 1433

17thC Coggeshall copper trade farthing

17thC Francis Lay of Coggeshall Essex hammered copper trade half penny -

Obv THIS FOR/HALF /A PENY

Rev Swan

Issuer died at the The Swan

Ref Norweb 1149

1670 William Guyon of Coggeshall Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Ref Norweb 1147

17thC John Digby grocer of Coggeshall Essex hammered copper trade farthing

17thC Suffolk copper trade farthings

17thC Ipswich hammered copper trade farthing

James Story, grocer

17thC Robert Terry of Ufford ,Grocer of Suffolk hammered copper trade farthing - RTM

17thC Thomas Burrough, grocer of Ipswich Suffolk hammered copper trade farthing

Obv TBA - GROCER*IN IPSWICH

Norweb 4359

Rare 17thC William Wilkinson of Ipswich hammered copper trade farthing - not in Norweb ref book.

Just had a great ID in from Kai.

Just looked in Norweb Volume 5 under Ipswich and it’s not there, and Michael Dickinson doesn’t price it, which generally means it’s a scarcer token.

Can only find one example being sold at Noonans/DNW back in 2003, so think it’s fairly scarce.

Apologies not more information, as not my specialty (Essex is the county I collect).

Hope this is of interest.

Kind regards,

Kai

17thC Lavenham copper trade farthing

17thC Stratford St Mary copper trade farthing

17thC John Groome of Stoke by Nayland copper trade farthing

17thC Daniel Walker, grocer of Woodbridge copper trade farthing

Maldon copper trade farthing

17thC James Robjent grocers of Maldon Essex hammered copper trade farthing

17thC Dorset copper trade farthing

Bury St Edmunds copper trade farthing

Witham copper trade farthings

1668 'His halfpenny' hammered copper trade token

Richard Swinborne of Witham Essex

17thC Romford copper trade farthings

1651 Thomas Steevens of Romford Essex hammered copper trade farthing

Ref Norweb 1354

Unknown copper trade farthings

1666 hammered copper trade farthing

Unknown 1667 His Halfpenny hammered copper trade farthing

Rev RPM or RRM

1667 'in Wavenham' hammered copper trade farthing

, 'the token listed as “in Wavenham” is actually Lavenham, Suffolk. The token is of Nicholas Dansie, and an example is in the Norweb book, Vol 5, number N4393.

Kai

17thC hammered copper trade farthing

Non Essex Norweb Ref 467-9

Obv THM

17thC copper farthings

The First British Copper Coin

Under James I, copper farthings were produced. At first these were produced privately under licence from the Crown, first by Lord Harrington, then by Lennox.
The licence changed hands several times, and privately issued copper farthings continued to be produced under Charles I.
After Charles I got the chop, a copper farthing was issued by Oliver Cromwell, bearing his portrait.

1614-25 James 1st hammered copper farthing Type 3c Mintmark key

General type Obv. IACO D G MAG BR (IT)

Rev. FRA ET HIB REX

Mint condition pond silt find 1634 Charles 1st hammered copper Royal farthing - Richmond 4 beaded harp

Obv CARO:DG:MAG:BRI

Rev. FRA:ETHIB:REX

Charles 1st hammered copper Royal farthings

Charles 1st Royal farthing - Harp Type 3 Maltravers 'rounds' 1634- 36, woolpack mint mark

obv CAROLUS D G MAG BRIT

Rev FRAN ET HIB REX

Charles 1st Royal farthing - Harp Type 3 Maltravers 'rounds' 1634- 36

Obv CAROLUS D G MAG BRIT

Rev FRAN ET HIB REX

Charles 1st hammered copper Rose farthings

1634 -36 Charles 1st Rose hammered copper farthing type 2

Obv CAEOLU D G MAG BRIT

Rev FRA ET HIBER REX