The Fishmongers' Arms

Richard Briggs issued this trade token, worth a half penny, for his business at Queenhithe.

Boyne & Williamson (1889) reference London number 2299; Obv inscription: RICHARD.BRIGGS.1660 (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = The Fishmongers' arms (in field); Rev inscription: AT.QVEENE.HITHE (around field, in Roman capitals) Device = R.A.B / ½ (triad of initials in Roman capitals with ½ below, in field).

The issuer was Richard Briggs, Fishmonger, appr. 1651, md. ANne Marriot 1657, bound apprentices 1658-72, see Percival Boyd, [Inhabitants of London]. Society of Genealogists, MS. 24810. See also token number 7513 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. The arms of the Worshipful company of Fishmongers are: Azure three dolphins naiant embowed in pale argent, finned, toothed and crowned or, between two pairs of stockfishes in saltire argent, over the mouth of each fish a crown or; on a chief gules three pairs of keys of St Peter in saltire (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). Queenhithe, was the name of a dock and a ward in the City of London, the ward name is still used today, and a street in the area of the dock, holds the name Queenhithe.