Owner Comments:
Middlesex Skidmore's Churches and Gates DH #584
Obverse: A south view of St. Dunstan's ST. DUNSTAN'S . FLEET ST. Ex: B.T. 1701
Reverse: The Skidmore cypher PSCO in script DEDICATED TO COLLECTORS OF MEDALS & COINS . surrounding
Edge: COVENTRY TOKEN
Diesinker: Benjamin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Paul Skidmore
Weight: 13.67g
Rarity: Common
St. Dunstan’s stands on the north side of Fleet Street. The church is commonly known as St. Dunstan in the West. First mentioned in 1185, the church is dedicated to Dunstan, a former Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury. The church narrowly escaped the Great Fire of London. The church was rebuilt in 1831 and its tower was heavily damaged by German Bombers in 1944 and rebuilt in 1950.
The façade includes chiming clock, the bells struck by the clubs of two giants. It was the first public clock in London to have a minute hand.
Samuel Pepys was a regular worshipper and Lord Baltimore was buried there in 1632, as was his son.
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.
Bt. Gary Groll