11. Bi-metallic London market tokens....by Cliff Anderson, USA

Some time ago, I submitted several of these bimetallic market tokens to the newsmail (July 9, 2005, newsmail #465, and October 11, 2008, #635), but I am repeating this topic since there are now a couple more of these interesting tokens to show. 

These tokens have a fascinating history and great eye appeal.  Several monographs have been written on these tokens by Neil Todd, which have also been called “London and provincial market tallies”.  Todd’s extensive research showed that these distinctive and often odd-shaped tokens were issued between 1895 and about 1930 for about nine individual markets in London, but the bimetallic ones seems to have been limited to the markets of Spitalfields, Borough, Covent Garden, Billingsgate and Stratford (not the city of Stratford-on-Avon). 

Collecting these bimetallic tokens is limited by several factors. 

Unfortunately, the several listings of these tokens do not provide illustrations of the tokens and do not clearly indicate when one is bimetallic.  In addition, in July 2007, Todd stated that ownership of many pieces has changed over the last 20 years and that large collections have been sold to Simmons Gallery and the British Museum.  So internet searches have been the best (and maybe the only) way to search for these items.

One description of these pieces was that “Wholesale food markets used tokens (often known as “brasses”) as a receipt for deposits paid for baskets, boxes, sacks and other containers used to convey the produce.  These were widely used in the London markets, and are found in other cities and large towns . . . . when baskets, boxes, sacks, etc., were issued, the trader would charge a deposit to ensure the return of the container.

The main manufacturer of the bimetallic style of tokens was an outfit named R. Neal in London, who seemed deliberate in making them in so many different shapes and sizes.  That's what makes them much more interesting and eye-catching than other trade tokens.

The unique shapes, cut-outs and plugs helped traders to identify the tokens quickly, at a time when hundreds of different tokens were in use. 

Though there is no separate catalog or listing for these English bimetallic market tokens, for more on these tokens, check out http://www.mernick.org.uk/thn/market_tokens.htm and http://tokensociety.org.uk/topics/market.shtml

Here are the images of two more of those bimetallic market tokens.   Note how they have an initial or odd-sized plug inserted, instead of the round or concentric inner core of the more “normal” bimetallic tokens.