Token, market token

Hexagonal shaped copper porter's token used at Spitalfields fruit & vegetable market. Market porters at London's wholesale markets were casual labourers. They carried goods for a number of different traders. In order to keep a tally of work done they were paid in tokens marked with the name of the trader they had portered for and the value of the job done. At the end of the day or week the porters would convert the tokens into cash wages. This token is marked one side with the wholesalers name 'Sutton & Kirkman Spitalfields' and, on the reverse the cash value '2/s'.