British Trade Tokens, Tickets and Passes, Numismatic Books

Transport, London, Marble Arch, Marble Arch Street Rail Co Ltd, oval copper, rev. horse-drawn omnibus, Marble Arch in background, 25 x 19mm, 3.86g/12h (Smith 475PJ; MG 1420); Soho, [John] Mihell, 1800, copper Penny, horse-drawn caravan, rev. mihell’s original caravan office, etc, eg, 35mm, 17.12g/12h (cf. Withers 830; Davis p.75) [2]. About very fine, second pierced £40-50

Provenance: D.C. Pottinger Collection [*first from J. Whitmore June 1982, second from J. Whitmore May 2002).

Marble Arch Street Rail Co Ltd, founded by the American transport promoter G.F. Train, inaugurated the first horse-drawn tramway system in London on 23 March 1861, running along the Uxbridge road from the junction of Edgware road to Porchester terrace, but the authorities forced it to close less than a year later because the rails, which protruded above the level of Uxbridge road, were dangerous to other forms of traffic; John Mihell, corn-chandler, 15 Little Compton street, est. 1800, fl. until at least 1820