The Tallow Chandler; The Merchant Taylors' Arms

This trade token, worth a farthing, was issued by a tallow chandler (candle maker), for their business in Whitecross Street.

Boyne & Williamson (1889) reference London number 3473; Obv inscription: TALLOE.CHANDLER (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = The Merchant-Tailors' arms (in field); Rev inscription: IN.WHIT.CROS.STREET (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = I.A.W. (triad of initials in Roman capitals, in field).

The arms of the Worshipful company of Merchant Tailors are: Argent a pavilion imperial purple garnished or lines ermine between two mantles also imperial purple lined ermine, on a chief azure a lion passant guardant (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). See also token number 7830 in the Sylloge of Coins of the British Isles, 59, The Norweb Collection: Tokens of the British Isles 1575-1750, Part VII - City of London. Whitecross Street lay in the ward of Cripplegate Without, in the City of London, and the Borough of Finsbury, Middlesex; the street is now part of Cripplegate Ward in the City of London, and the London Borough of Islington.