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17th Century, Buckingham, William Atton, Farthing, 1663, two bells, 1.94g/12h (Berry & Morley 38; SCBI Norweb 295, same dies; BW. 31). Good very fine and nicely patinated, rare (£80-100)

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Preston-Morley Buckinghamshire Collection: Tokens.

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Collection

Provenance:
Glendining Auction, 11-12 July 1929, lot 360 (part);
F E Baker Collection, October 1977 [from Spink, September 1929]. See Colour Plate III

William Atton (b. June 1627), draper; mayor of Buckingham in 1657 and JP, lived at Blincow’s House, Market Hill; wife’s name was Elizabeth (†1667). The two bells on his token was a memory to his grandfather, Bartholomew Atton (†1630), who, after serving an apprenticeship with the bell founder Thomas Newcombe in Leicester, removed to Buckingham, where he took over a bell foundry in West Street. William Atton’s father, also William (1596-1655), left the bell foundry to set up the drapery business which his sons inherited; the token issuer’s younger brother, Bartholomew Atton (1630-1699), removed to Brackley, Northamptonshire, where he also issued a farthing token (Wells 6; BW. Northants 7). The issuer’s grandfather and father both served as mayor of Buckingham, the former in 1604 and the latter four times, in 1624, 1630, 1642 and 1649