Owner Comments:
Middlesex Skidmore’s Churches and Gates DH #609
Obverse: A west view of St. Martin's church with houses on either side ST MARTIN'S LUDGATE. Ex: JACOBS in small letters above BUILT 1672
Reverse: The Skidmore cypher PSCO in script DEDICATED TO COLLECTORS OF MEDALS & COINS . surrounding
Edge: Plain
Diesinker: Benjamin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Paul Skidmore
Weight: 12.42g
Rarity: Very Rare
Site of an ancient church first mentioned in 1138 the church is located near where Lud Gate stood and next to the Roman wall. The ancient church was rebuilt in 1437 but was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666. The rebuilt church was designed by Christopher Wren. The church suffered only minor damage from one incendiary bomb during the Blitz in World War II.
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.
Not included in Atkins work.
Bt. Brian Herriott