Market Tokens ~ Brasses

Wholesale food markets used tokens (often known as Brasses) as a receipt for deposits paid for baskets, boxes, sacks and other containers used to convey the produce.   These were widely used in the London markets, and are found in other cities and large towns such as Birmingham and Worcester.   They are sometimes similar in form to those used on farms for fruit and vegetable pickers and there is some evidence that family businesses with farms and market stands used similar tokens for both purposes.

When baskets, boxes, sacks etc. were issued the trader would charge a deposit to ensure the return of the container.  Simply returning the deposit when the container was returned was open to fraud, since they could readily be stolen from the back of the market and then re-presented to collect the deposit again.  To receive repayment, both the container and the token had to be presented to the trader.  The introduction of VAT in the 1970s finally sealed the fete of the dwindling tokens since the 'Vatman' wanted VAT to be charged on the deposits, so the system fell into disuse.

In London, and probably elsewhere, as the markets grew, traders set up businesses in the surrounding streets.  Although the token might show a different address, they are still classified with tokens from the main market.

By no means an exhausive list, the most commonly found tokens are:-

• Birmingham
• London
  • Billingsgate   View List of Issuers
        Download Catalogue of Tallies - 256Kb MS-Word - Billingsgate.doc
  • Borough
  • Brentford
  • Columbia
  • Covent Garden
  • Farringdon
  • Kings Cross
  • Spitalfields
  • Stratford (Essex border)
• Worcester

The Billingsgate tokens tend to be larger than the average, and some have studs fastened through them so that two tokens will not stick together, or to a wet work surface.  Wet surfaces or wet hands were common in a wet-fish market.

Below are six examples from Stratford Market to show some of the shapes, cut-outs and the 'M' plug in the A.May example.  This helped traders to identify the tokens quickly, at a time when hundreds of different tokens were in use.  The rare and early token of John Fox (issued between 1887 and 1899) is very unusual because it has a rather fine picture of a running fox, rather than the value.

and the reverses . . .

G.T.S.