Reference:4136 Whitecross Street, Cripplegate, London: Brewery Porterage Ticket or Pass, c. 1690

Two-line inscription WHILE STREET separated by a cross. Two men advancing to left, a long staff across their shoulders, from which hangs a large barrel. Copper, cast. 43 mm. (1.65 inches) in diameter.

Condition: Very fine.

Notes: The dating for this extraordinary piece is tentative, and it may be a little earlier than suggested. It would appear to have served as a porterage pass for its bearers as they crossed the City boundary. Whitecross Street was in the Cripplegate Ward Without, but the northern portion of this thoroughfare lay outside the City. This area of London was an extremely active commercial quarter in the seventeenth and the early eighteenth century. George Williamson's catalogue of 17th century traders' tokens, for example, lists the issues of more than more than forty trades and businesses operating in Whitecross Street alone. One such piece, a halfpenny dated 1667, issued by George Lowe, depicts two porters carrying a barrel (Williamson 3460).