Seventeenth Century English Trade Tokens

obverse 500 dpi 250 dpi

reverse 500 dpi 250 dpi

Farthing trade token                Colchester, Essex       Boyne-Williamson, Essex 160

Obverse:  IACOB · VOL · BAYMAKER [star]
Reverse:  IN · COLCHESTER [star]

Weight:  20.9 g   (1.35 grams)                  Diameter:  16.0 mm

Comment:  A example of a farthing size Seventeenth Century trade token from Colchester in Essex, England. On both sides the legend is between an outer beaded edge and an inner circle of elongated lozenge shaped beads. On the obverse is a trade symbol representing a rack with lines on it for the cloth with a B in the upper section for Baymaker and a V below for Vol. On the reverse are the letters: · V · / I · R / · This is listed as I.R.V. in Boyne-Williamson. Possibly the I and V represent Iacob Vol's initials (could R be a middle initial? If so, it would represent Vol, Jacob R). Acording to Boyne-Williamson (Essex, item 158), an Abraham Voll produced a trade token in Colchester in 1668. According to Thompson in his catalog of the Norweb collection there is one obverse and three reverses listed. This example has a reverse in which the point of the V is directly over the upright stroke of the R, all three Norweb examples have the point of the V to the left of the R.

Bay was a special type of cloth, originally from France, that was made in Colchester. Several Colchester tokens were produced by individuals identifying themselves as Baymakers, including Abraham Langley, Jr. (Boyne-Williamson, Essex, item 128), William Moore (item 135), Peter Pelle (item 140), Thomas Renolds (item 143), Jacob Ringer (item 145) and John Scolden (item 147).

See: George Williamson, Trade Tokens Issued in the Seventeenth Century in England, Wales, and Ireland, by Coporations, Merchants, Tradesmen, etc.: A New and Revised Edition of William Boyne's Work,   rpt of 1889-1891 by Bert Franklin: New York, 1970, vol. 1, p. 220, item 160 (This book is sometimes referred to as Boyne-Williamson or Boyne); and R.H. Thompson, The Norweb Collection Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.A.: Tokens of the British Isles 1575-1750, Part II, Dorset, Durham, Essex and Gloucsetershire, Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, vol 38, Spink and Sons: London, 1988, plate 17, items 1230-1232a.

Provenance:  Donated to Notre Dame in 1887 as part of a 2,300 item coin collection (see: The Notre Dame Scholastic,   vol. 21 (September 1887) 45.

Patent Farthings	Section Contents	British Coppers: pt. 1