Bought recently from a gentleman an extremely rare advertising or trading token for John Cheek 'Fishing Rod and Tackle Manufacturer' whose premises were to be found at the sign of The Golden Perch, 132 Oxford Street between 1842 and 1860. The token, which weighs just over 5 grammes and measures 26mm in diameter had been buried in a Kentish field for over a century and a half. On its face is a representation in relief of 'The Golden Perch' alongside its legend and on the reverse the details:
'John Cheek Fishing Rod and Tackle Manufacturer 132 Oxford Street London'.
For old fashioned modernists who find themselves abroad in the West End, 132 is now the site of John Lewis who took opened their first drapery there, four years after Cheek departed, in 1864.
