32 THE TOKENS OF CORNWALL. 



would place it in advance also of Shropshire, Stafford, Bedford, 

 Huntingdon, Cheshire, Durham, and Hereford; but of course 

 these counties have their own additions to make. Cornwall is 

 possibly peculiar in this, that — two of St. Ives excepted — none of 

 its tokens are " town pieces," that is, pieces issued by the authori- 

 ties of a town. In Devon such tokens were coined and circulated 

 by Ashburton, Axminster, Bideford, Dartmouth, Moretonhamp- 

 stead and Torrington. Cornwall is peculiar also in the fact that 

 so large a proportion of its tokens bears the arms of the issuers — 

 nearly a fourth — a proportion greater, so far as I am aware, than is 

 to be found in any other county. This at once indicates the extent 

 to which the old families of the county engaged in commercial 

 pursuits, and the fact that they thought it no derogation. A 

 third peculiarity is that not one of the Cornish tokens of the 17th 

 century has the slightest reference to mining. In the later tokens 

 the case was quite the reverse. A fair proportion of the coins bears 

 the arms of the old incorporated companies. The mercers, who 

 in those days were general shopkeepers, greatly predominate ; then 

 come the grocers; next the haberdashers and the salters; then 

 the chandlers, the vintners, and the apothecaries. 



Of devices there occur — women packing pilchards, St. Ives ; a 

 man making candles, Callmgton ; the seven stars, Falmouth ; a 

 dolphin, Looe and St. Ives; an anchor, Looe, St. Ives, and 

 Saltash ; sheep in a fold, Newport ; a ferry boat, Saltash ; a post 

 boy, Truro; three men round a globe, Scilly; a shuttle, St. 

 Neot ; an angel, Penare ; a muUett, Penzance ; a bull, St. Ives ; 

 a bell, Penryn ; a ship, Looe and Saltash ; a cross, Probus ; a cross 

 moline, and possibly a frying pan, St. Neot ; a fleur de lis, Meva- 

 gissey ; two cross swords, St. Ives. There are a few devices upon 

 which it is difficult to pronounce whether they are intended for 

 arms or not ; but of those given above many were doubtless the 

 signs of the houses which the issuers kept — signs then being of 

 general use by all classes of traders. 



Of the whole of the 98 tokens contained in the following list 

 no less than 85 are farthings, leaving only 13 half-pence. It is 

 likewise a matter worthy of note that only two of the issuers 

 were women. The third (middle) initial on the reverse of a token 

 is that of the issuer's wife, so that it would seem that there were 

 among them few bachelors. 



