A COLLECTION of 16th and 17th Century Hertfordshire trade tokens, including two issued by Watford tradesmen in the 1600's, has fetched £6,321 at auction at Morton and Eden in London.
The tokens, originally used by Hertfordshire tradesmen when coins were in short supply, belonged to the late Stanley Andrews, a collector whose family live in the Broxbourne area.
The Watford tokens were issued by tradesmen Cap Rocke and William Whittaker. Who they were and what they did is now a mystery.
Paul Wood at auctioneers Morton and Eden explained: "The Mint produced copper farthings up to 1640, but then stopped producing them, so various shops would make their own farthings and halfpennies."
He said they could be exchanged in other shops because they contained the amount of copper indicated on the face value and when enough tokens were amassed, the customer would swap the coins for a shilling, for example.
Mr Wood added: "The 17th Century tokens in Mr Andrews' collection are mainly from 1650 until 1660."
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