By Mr. William Boyne, F.S.A. 



77 



whilst after the "Restoration the Royal Arms, the King's Head, and 

 other insignia of Royalty, are exceedingly common. 



The spelling of words in the inscriptions is most irregular, owing 

 partly to the unsettled state of English orthography at that period, 

 and partly to the ignorance of those who struck the coins. — Thus, 

 " on," is often spelled one; "Hennere" for Henry, "st. eeds" 

 for St. Neot's : " olfa-tree " for olive-tree ; " horses show " for 

 horse-shoe : &c. 



The coining of the Tokens seems to have been performed by the 

 Issuers themselves. In the ' Gentleman's Magazine/ vol. xxvii. 

 page 499, there is an account of the discovery of a Token-press and 

 dies, found at Chesterfield. 



For the convenience of rechanging the numerous varieties of 

 Tokens, tradesmen kept boxes with several divisions, into which 

 those of the various tradesmen and corporations were sorted, and 

 when a sufficient number were collected, they were returned to the 

 issuers, to be exchanged for silver. 



The devices on Tokens are very numerous, and may be classed 

 under twelve divisions. 



I. The arms of the Incorporated Trade Companies of the city 

 of London. These were generally adopted by persons of the same 

 trade throughout the country. The colours of the Arms are not 

 shown on the Tokens, and parts of the bearings are often omitted,, 

 with other inaccuracies. In addition to the Trade Companies, 

 numerous individual tradesmen issued them, as Coalman, Comfit- 

 maker, Pipe-maker, &c. : as well as Bailiffs, Churchwardens, lords 

 of the Manor, Mayors, Members of Parliament, overseers of the 

 Poor, one Rector and one Esquire. 



II. The Arms of Cities, Towns, Abbeys, the Nobility, and 

 private families. 



III. Merchant's marks. In early times, when few persons 

 could read, these curious marks must have been very useful, to 

 enable work-people and others to distinguish bales of merchandise 

 by the particular mark stamped on them. They appear to have 

 been in use from the twelfth century. Common devices of this 

 kind are, a cross, the figure 4, a heart, a circle, and the initials of 



