Author: BNS Blog Coordinator

One of the main features of the seventeenth century token series, apart from its size, is the diversity of issuers and the potential for even a singular token to open up a window on people, trades and places that have been lost in the intervening years. A recent talk at the British Numismatic Society (Laura Burnett – April 2023) mentioned in passing the token issued at the Glasshouse at Calne in 1669 (Wilts W/D 35). This reminded me of some research I carried out over a decade ago into this token and seventeenth century glasshouses, which is revisited in this note.

Truck systems are often viewed as a product of the industrial revolution, where factory owners paid their workers with tokens and tickets that could only redeemed in the factory shop. An alternative form of truck system is where the workers are paid in kind by their employers – often using the employers products. One such case occurred in the seventeenth century when Thomas Renolds of Colchester paid his piece workers in cloth, which they could only sell at a loss. The workers took Renolds to court for the lost money, which he ultimately paid. Renolds was a wealthy merchant and also issued seventeenth century tokens. A die study reveals five obverse and five reverse dies and illustrates the eight known die combinations. A further die, noted by Judson in 1987, has not yet been seen and is suspected not to exist.