Dorset, Sherborne, Pretor, Pew, Whitty & Pretor, Westwood’s Halfpence (2), 1793, bank edge, 11.26g/6h (DH 7), 1796, bank edge, 12.02g/6h (DH 8) [2]. Extremely fine, first with attractive dark glossy patina, second with almost full original colour, rare (£60-80)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Collection of 18th Century Tokens formed by Dr David L Spence.

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Collection

Provenance:
Fawcett/Litman Collection.

Pretor, Pew and Whitty, bankers, Long street, traded as the Sherbourne and Dorsetshire Bank and were founded as Simon Pretor & Co c.1740. At the time of the tokens the company was styled Pretor, Pew, Whitty & Pretor, becoming Pretor, Pew & Whitty in 1797; the bank was absorbed by National Provincial in 1843. The senior partner, Simon Pretor, was a grocer and tea trader at the upper end of the Shambles, Market place, Sherborne, from 1759 to 1795, when he sold his business to John and William Ensor. The other partners were Richard Pew, a surgeon, and Samuel Whitty, postmaster, whose son, Pretor Whitty, is recorded as having died in April 1811, aged 16. Further details of Pretor and the bank are sold with the lot. DH 8 only illustrated