The Traders’ Tokens of this kingdom, properly so-called, are confined, in issue, to the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early part of the nineteenth centuries--those of the first of these periods being the most numerous as well as, in most respects, the most interesting. Though not coins in the ordinary sense, not having been issued by kings or governments, they play a more important part in the history of the country than even the regal pieces do, and the information to be derived from their study is not only valuable but in many instances entertaining. Coins, the currency of nations, as I have, on another occasion, observed, are hoarded up and studied, and constantly referred to in illustration of historical facts, or as corroborations in cases of doubtful points; and their value, admitted on all hands, cannot be too highly estimated. They, however, tell but of princes and nationalities, not of the people. The coins of Greece and Rome tell of events, of changes, and of wars, and become, when properly studied, a complete epitome of the history of the great nations to which they belong. Those of our own country, however, have not that recommendation--they become simply, and solely, matters of regal chronology. From the Norman Conquest to the present hour not one event does an English coin record, not one national trait does it exhibit, and not one matter connected with national history or the people does it illustrate. Not so with Traders’ Tokens. Issued _by_ the people, they tell _of_ the people, and become imperishable records of that most important estate of the realm. They indicate to us their occupations and their skill; their customs and their modes of life; their local governments; their guilds and trade companies; their habits and sentiments; their trades, their costume, their towns, their families, and their homes. Pity it is that these lasting and reliable records and adjuncts to national history are, as I have just said, confined to some two centuries of our historical annals--but of those two periods (and especially of the earliest) they are, assuredly, among the more interesting and important of illustrations. In Anglo-Saxon and mediæval times the want of small coins--that is, a currency representing a small value--was much felt, and this gave rise to the occasional issue of spurious, or rather base, coins to supply the deficiency, as it was found the smaller pieces--for instance, the pennies when broken up for use as halfpence and farthings--were unfit for general use among the rough-handed population.