The Blacksmiths' Arms

Ralph Draper issued this trade token, worth a half penny, for his business at the sign of the Blacksmiths' arms, in Princes Street.

Boyne & Williamson (1889) reference London number 2279; Obv inscription: RALPH.DRAPER.AT.THE (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = The Blacksmiths' arms (in field); Rev inscription: IN.PRINCES.STREET (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = HIS / HALF / PENY (in three lines of Roman capitals, in field).

The arms of the Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths are: Sable a chevron or between three hammers argent handled and crowned (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). The exact location from which this token was issued is not known; there are a number of possibilities for the location of Princes Street: Princes Street which lies in Broad Street Ward, Cheap Ward and Coleman Street Ward, in the City of London; Princes Street (now Princeton Street), in the London Borough of Camden, formerly in Holborn, Middlesex; or Princes Street (now Kemble Street), in the City of Westminster, formerly in Westminster, Middlesex.