Owner Comments:
Middlesex Skidmore's Miscellaneous DH #169
Obverse: The front of an large building, THE . BANQUETING . HOUSE above and JACOBS. in small letters beneath Ex: WHITE-HALL
Reverse: A portcullis and scales between crossed oak and laurel branches MIDDLESEX . PENNY . above and 1797 . below
Edge: I PROMISE TO PAY ON DEMAND THE BEARER ONE PENNY X
Diesinker: Benjamin Jacobs
Manufacturer: Paul Skidmore
Weight: 18.77g
Rarity: Rare
The only surviving portion of the Palace of Whitehall which was the residence of English monarchs from 1530 to 1698. It was through one of its windows that King Charles I was passed on to the scaffold erected for his execution.
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 6