The Bakers' Arms

Matthew Brown issued this trade token, worth a half penny, for his business in Mile End, Middlesex.

Boyne & Williamson (1889) reference London number 1892; Obv inscription: MATHEW.BROWNE (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = The Bakers' arms (in field); Rev inscription: IN.MILE.END.1667 (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = HIS / HALF / PENY (in three lines of Roman capitals, in field).

See also token number 8307 in the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, 62, The Norweb Collection: Tokens of the British Isles 1575-1750, Part VIII - Middlesex and Uncertain Pieces. The arms of the Worshipful Company of Bakers are: Gules three Garbs Or on a chief barry wavy of six Argent and Azure two anchors Or cabled Gules over all issuant from a cloud proper radiated in chief Or a cubit arm descending therefrom vested Argent cuffed Sable the hand proper holding a balance (J. Bromley, The Armorial Bearings of the Guilds of London: a record of the heraldry of the surviving companies with historical notes; with...[illustrations] by Heather Child...(London, 1960). Mile End lay in Stepney, Middlesex, and is now part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.