½ Penny Kent - Goudhurst

Reverse

Lettering around shield of arms of the city of Canterbury (a lion over three birds facing left). A radiant star above, ornament below, no border

Script: Latin

Lettering: FOR GENERAL CONVENIENCE

Engraver: F. Arnold

Edge

Plain with lettering and six ornaments

Lettering: PAYABLE BY W·MYNS GOUDHURST ++++++

Comment

The edge lettering refers to William Myns who was a freeholder and general shopkeeper with a business in Goudhurst. Struck from a late state of the obverse die with flaw left of date. Without M countermark stamped above horse; it helped distinguish it from the similar Fuggles issue (edge reads PAYABLE BY W·FUGGLE'S GOUDHURST).

 Manufacturer is William Lutwyche; he developed a thriving trade in the production of tokens for various merchants in Kent. Among his many commissions were those for William Fuggle, a tallow chandler, and William Mynn, a shopkeeper, both residing in Goudhurst. Lutwyche used identical dies for both issuers, altering the edge inscription to distinguish between the two. William Fuggle got his tokens first, but he seems to have resisted the mis-spelling of his name as Friggles (DH Kent 28) and the issue was suppressed until it could be corrected. The second generation of these dies (DH Kent 28c) were struck on a flan intended for William Peckham, also a Lutwyche client. It’s likely that this was in error as it may have been too much of a stretch, even for Lutwyche, to use the same dies for three issuers. In any case, Peckham had his own set of dies engraved (DH Kent 3) although it is interesting to note that on at least on a few occasions, an errant Friggles flan received the impression of the dies from his token (DH Kent 3a). Before Fuggle received his corrected order, Lutwyche had already moved on to striking tokens with the same dies for William Mynn (DH Kent 29). Lutwyche then completed the order for Fuggle with two variations (DH Kent 28a and 28b). By this time both Fuggle and Mynn had become aware of the confusion and began counter-stamping their respective tokens with an “F” or an “M”, while Fuggle took the additional step of actually cancelling the inscription on inappropriate edges.

Interesting fact