Thomas Stokes operated as an importer and dealer in fancy goods, medals, and tokens from his Little Collins Street premises, and by the early 1860s had become one of the most prolific issuers of tradesman's tokens in Victoria. The copper famine of the colony's retail trade — a chronic shortage of official small change that the Sydney and Melbourne mints were slow to remedy — created an opening that Stokes exploited commercially, supplying tokens both under his own name and as a manufacturer for dozens of other Melbourne businesses.
The 268c designation in Gray indicates a specific die pairing within what is a closely documented variety sequence for this issuer.
Thomas Stokes operated as an importer and dealer in fancy goods, medals, and tokens from his Little Collins Street premises, and by the early 1860s had become one of the most prolific issuers of tradesman's tokens in Victoria. The copper famine of the colony's retail trade — a chronic shortage of official small change that the Sydney and Melbourne mints were slow to remedy — created an opening that Stokes exploited commercially, supplying tokens both under his own name and as a manufacturer for dozens of other Melbourne businesses.
The 268c designation in Gray indicates a specific die pairing within what is a closely documented variety sequence for this issuer.