Andover's Wakeford shillings belong to the wave of provincial silver tokens that flooded English commerce after 1811, when the near-total disappearance of regal silver coinage — hoarded or melted as bullion values rose — left market towns functionally unable to make change. W. S. & I. Wakeford were linen drapers, and issuing their own currency was less a financial ambition than a commercial necessity. The Dalton and Davis references cover two distinct varieties, differing in edge treatment and minor die details.
Andover's Wakeford shillings belong to the wave of provincial silver tokens that flooded English commerce after 1811, when the near-total disappearance of regal silver coinage — hoarded or melted as bullion values rose — left market towns functionally unable to make change. W. S. & I. Wakeford were linen drapers, and issuing their own currency was less a financial ambition than a commercial necessity. The Dalton and Davis references cover two distinct varieties, differing in edge treatment and minor die details.