PREFACE IN compiling the following account of the Seventeenth-century Tradesmen's Tokens in Oxford, the principal source of information has been the City Archives, and. to the City officials the author desires to tender thanks for the readiness with which their archives have been placed at his disposal. In particular, the late Mr. H. Montgomery, as Assistant Town Clerk, rendered frequent and ungrudging help. To Dr. R. L. Poole, Keeper of the University Archives, acknowledgement is also due for assistance in obtaining information from the documents under his charge, as also to the keepers of the muniments in several Colleges, especially University and New Colleges, and Christ Church. Recourse has also been had to the wills in Somerset House. Mr. Arthur Manning kindly placed at the author's disposal for examination the notes and collection of tokens made by his brother, the late Mr. P. Manning, F.S.A. Practically all the tokens published are included in the University Coin Collections, which comprise the series formerly kept in the Bodleian Library and transferred with the rest of the collections to the Ashmolean Museum in 1920, and also the series which had been formed before that date in the Ashmolean Museum. This latter series was greatly strengthened in 1914 by the purchase of the Oxfordshire tokens in the Hodgkin Collection. From these combined collections most of the casts were taken which appear in the plates. In a few cases, where the particular variety was wanting in the University Collection, or the specimens were not good, casts were obtained from the Manning Collection or from the British Museum, in the latter case kindly supplied by the Keeper of the Coins. Finally, Mr. A. H. Baldwin, F.R.N.S., whose collection adds two varieties to the list, has permitted casts of them to be taken, for the purpose of the present publication. The list of known varieties, 71 in number in William Boyne's Trade Tokens of 1858, increased to 78 in G. C. Williamson's edition of the same work of 1889, has now reached a total of, 113, and doubtless other varieties still remain to be detected. ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM. January 20, 1923. E. T. LEEDS. |