The Tobacco Roll

Jerome [Powell?], a tobacconist, issued this trade token, worth a half penny, for his business in Shire Lane.

Boyne & Williamson (1889) reference London number 2781A; Obv inscription: Jerom / Po[....] / Tobacconist / in. Sheare / Lane (in five lines of cursive script, in field); Rev inscription: HIS HALF / PE NY (in two lines of Roman capitals divided by sign, in field) Device = A man smoking a pipe and carrying a tobacco roll (in field).

The inscription of the issuers surname is not clear on the token, it has been recorded as being Powell, though this uncertain, there being a probabl 'n', on another example of the token in the museum collection, see NN19147. See also token number 7159 in the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, 62, The Norweb Collection: Tokens of the British Isles 1575-1750, Part VIII - Middlesex and Uncertain Pieces. Shire Lane lay within Westminster, Middlesex, and the ward of Farringdon Without; this token being denoted as being from Temple Bar within, indicates that it came from the portion of the street that lay with the City of London.