Owner Comments:
Middlesex Skidmore's Churches and Gates DH #638
Obverse: A north view of St. Stephen's, Walbrook ST. STEPHEN'S : WALBROOK . BT. Ex: JACOBS in small letters -1676- in two lines
Reverse: The Skidmore cypher - PSCO in script DEDICATED TO COLLECTORS OF MEDALS & COINS . surrounding
Edge: Plain
Diesinker: Benjamin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Paul Skidmore
Rarity: Rare
St. Stephen's stands behind the Mansion House in the City of London. The original church, built before 1135, was on the west side of Walbrook, a new church was completed in 1430 on the east side of Walbrook and was destroyed in the Great Fire of London. The foundation was laid for the third church in 1672 and completed in 1679. It is considered one of Sir Christopher Wren’s most accomplished churches. The design for the church is believed to be a prototype for his construction of St. Paul’s Cathedral. The church has a 63-foot high dome and is centered over a square of 12 Corinthian columns. The church is a Grade I listed building.
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. As well as making genuine tradesmens' tokens to order, he also made pennies and halfpennies for sale to collectors of the time - especially series of Buildings Tokens for London.
One of a set of 120 pieces - each portraying a well-known church in or around London.
Atkins: Middlesex 490