The Distillers' Arms

John Fly, a distiller (someone who produces alcoholic spirits), issued this trade token, worth a half penny, for his business at Ratcliffe, Middlesex.

Boyne & Williamson (1889) reference London number 2346; Obv inscription: IOHN.FLY.DISSTILER (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = The Distillers' arms (in field); Rev inscription: AT.RAT.CLIFE.1669 (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = HIS / HALF / PENY (in three lines of Roman capitals, in field).

'John Fly bound apprentices, including his son John 1681, see C. Webb ‘London Livery Company Apprenticeship Registers’ (London, 1996[, xi. 11, 36 as cited in token number 8347 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 Distillers are: Azure a fesse wavy of water argent between in chief a sun or drawing up a cloud argent distilling drops of rain proper and in base a distillatroy double-armd or with two worms and bolt receivers argent (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). Ratcliffe is a disctrict in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, having formerly been part of Middlesex.