A token is a coin or other object, the currency value of which is greater than its metal value.
These were issued on account of the scarcity of legal coins.
To the time of James I, shopkeepers and others struck farthing [¼d] tokens in lead.
In 1613, Lord Harrington was empowered to make farthings tokens of copper.
In 1648, traders began to issue their own tokens in copper or brass. In some places, the Overseers of the Poor issued copper tokens for 1d and 3d, and silver tokens for 6d and 1/-.
Tokens were issued by many tradesmen – especially at the time that the Coiners put the legal currency system in jeopardy – and because many of the existing coins, such as Charles II's guinea and George III's cartwheel, were too large for practical purposes.
Many local businesses issued their own banknotes and tokens, and these were accepted by local tradesmen.
The tokens were issued around 1645
owing to the want of copper money coined by authority
and generally had a face value of ½d or 1d.
They were cried down by proclamation in 1672
Some local examples were those issued by
The question of giving change was also a problem.
Elizabeth I issued coins worth 1½d and ¾d to simplify giving change, and several odd-denomination coins were issued – see penny.
Charles II introduced the halfpenny and the farthing in 1672 and banned the circulation of tokens.
Silver tokens were illegal from 1813, and copper tokens from 1818
See Samuel Henry Hamer and Truck Act [1831]
Page Ref: QQ_998
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