Seventeenth Century Traders' Tokens

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Kingston Museum has an impressive collection of local seventeenth century traders' tokens on display in its permanent galleries. Sixteen of them originally formed part of an important country-wide collection owned by a private collector.  When the collection was sold, the Museum was able to purchase the Kingston tokens for £1,280 in 1996 with the help of the National Art Collections Fund.

What are Traders' Tokens
Tokens were issued by local tradesmen during and after the Civil War to use as small change for their customers at a time when small official coins of the realm, usually farthings or halfpennies, were not readily available.   Around 15,000 tokens are known to have been made across the country, many in the City of London. They were made of copper or brass, sometimes tin or pewter and, very ocasionally, leather (although this was rare), and were marked with special designs to indicate which trader produced them.  

Who issued tokens in Kingston?
Kingston suffered badly during the Civil Wars.  The bridge over the Thames made it strategically an important town and it  changed allegiance between Charles 1's Royalist armies and the Parliamentarian army four times.  Armies could use up all the food and supplies in a town without paying, causing  serious shortages.  As a result, small official coins were in short supply.  Seventeen traders in Kingston are known to have issued twenty-one different types of token, square as well as round. Charming images displayed on the tokens include a crane (a bird) and three coneys (rabbits), indicating the inn signs from which two traders operated.  A number display three fishes from Kingston's coat of arms, a reference to the three Domesday fisheries in the Thames, or coats of arms of trading guilds. We know something about these people from our local archives. Our coins are made of copper and brass and are 1.6 to 1.9 cm. in size.

What happened?
The tokens were a big success. They were technically illegal but were tolerated because they met demand.  Then in 1672 Charles 11 banned them and official coins were issued once more in greater numbers.

Find out more about some of the local traders by following the links below: