Owner Comments:
Middlesex Skidmore's Churches and Gates DH #657
Obverse: A view of Ludgate LUDGATE BT. 1586. on either side of the gate. Ex: JACOBS. in small letters
Reverse: The Skidmore cypher - PSCO in script, DEDICATED . TO . COLLECTORS . OF . MEDALS. & COINS . surrounding
Edge: Plain
Diesinker: Benjamin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Paul Skidmore
Weight: 11.34g
Rarity: Common
The original Ludgate stood in the old city wall extending to the river Thames. It is believed to be one of the four original gates in the London Wall. This portion of the wall was demolished in 1276 and the gate depicted was built in 1586. The Gate was finally demolished in 1760.
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 pieces depicting one of the eleven gates of London.
Atkins: Middlesex 506
Bt. Merfyn Williams