What is a token ? It is a pledge, in this case, a kind of small coin used as small change
by traders when small coin of the realm is in short supply. It is the issuers promise that he will deliver
its face value, in coin of the Realm, on presentation, in the same way that we now use bank notes and cheques.
Most money today is token money i.e. its intrinsic value is less than what it purports to be. Until the First World war
this was the exception. Gold and silver coins had a value only very slightly less than the face value. Token money before this was
emergency money, usually issued when governments failed to supply enough coins. It was soon realised that these tokens were
a valuable means of advertismentor propoganda so they were issued with this intent.
Later still the were issued just to satisfy collectors.
These 17th century tokens were issued on the Isle of Wight in this case, halfpennies, by Willam Hide, Alderman of Yarmouth in 1667
and Joseph Barton an inn-keeper of 'The Kings Arms',High Street, Cowes, at the same time
Thomas Ayrton, a mercer, of West Cowes issued this halfpenny in 1798.
Robert Bird Wilkins, an ironmonger, tin-plateworker, plumber, coal merchant and banker, of Newport issued his token in 1792.
The silver shilling and sixpence were issued by Newport Corporation in 1811. The beehive on the sixpence
is a reference to Forest House, the Workhouse, a hive of industry.
Isle of Wight Trade Tokens.
from 'Trade Tokens of the Isle of Wight', published in 1995.