Owner Comments:
Middlesex Skidmore's Miscellaneous DH #173
Obverse: The front of a gabled building flanked by two towers with cupolas THE . HOUSE . OF . COMMONS . FROM . THE . THAMES Ex: BUILT . 1552
Reverse: A Cap of Liberty over a coronet upon a pole between a palm branch and a cornucopia PEACE . LIBERTY . AND . PLENTY . 1797.
Edge: I PROMISE TO PAY ON DEMAND THE BEARER ONE PENNY X
Diesinker: Benjamin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Paul Skidmore
Rarity: Scarce
King Stephen built a chapel as part of his palace and dedicated it to his namesake. St. Stephen's Chapel was rebuilt and endowed by Edward III. In the reign of Edward VI it was converted into a house for the Assembling of Parliament and thereafter the Commons of England held their sittings in the building. When Ireland joined the Union in 1800 the House was too small to accommodate the extra members and it was enlarged. In October 1834 both Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire. The foundation stone of the present House of Commons was laid in 1840.
The obverse die was also used on the Middlesex Skidmore's Clerkenwell DH #170 token, paired with the Skidmore Clerkenwell reverse.
The family business of the token manufacturer Peter Skidmore was an iron foundry at 15 Coppice Row in Clerkenwell with a shop at No. 123 High Holborn. Skidmore realized that there was a market for tokens as the genuine tradesmen's pieces of the time were very keenly collected as they were issued.
Paul Skidmore was the son of Peter. This is from Skidmore's series of 10 ‘Miscellaneous Pennies' that featured well known Provincial buildings. They were issued them in quite small numbers - plus the dies that Jacobs engraved were quite brittle and many broke before the required number was struck. The coins were primarily sold to collectors but in these times of desperate need for copper change they often got into circulation alongside the regal copper and other genuine tradesmen's tokens.
Atkins: Middlesex 99
Bt. Bill McKivor