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Stokes & Son, Medal Makers, Melbourne, Victoria & Sydney, New South Wales
Thomas Stokes was born in Edgeburston, Birmingham, England, in 1831. He was apprenticed to a diesinker, and migrated to Australia in search of gold in the 1850s. He did not succeed, but returned to his trade as a diesinker and button maker. In 1856 he established a successful business at 15 Mincing Lane, Melbourne, and soon moved to larger permises at 115 Flinders Lane.
In 1857 Stokes acquired a press from W.J. Taylor and began to mint large numbers of tradesmen's tokens, some 82 varieties in all (this has more recently been contested). He also commenced the Australian Medallic Issues. Within a short time the business moved again, to 100 Collins Street. In 1873 Stokes took a partner, Martin, and the business was re-named Stokes & Martin. It added silverware to its product line, but the new direction was not well received.The business relocated to 29 Little Collins Street, where in 1893 a disastrous fire damaged a large portion of the business. Unfortunately Martin had forgotten to renew the fire insurance policy, and the partnership was dissolved as a result. Stokes rebuilt the business as Stokes & Son.
The business became a proprietary concern in 1911, re-named Stokes & Son Pty Ltd. Its medals ceased being artistically significant, although remained technically sound. It began to focus on mass-produced medals at competitive prices, rapidly produced with insufficient time to develop artistic designs.
In 1935 the business moved to Albert Street, Brunswick, and in 1962 Stokes became a public company, renamed Stokes (Australasia) Pty Ltd. By 2005, the business had relocated to Ringwood.
References:
Carlisle, L.J. (1983). Australian Commemorative Medals and Medalets from 1788. B & C Press Pty Ltd, Sydney.
Sharples, John P. (1990). Medals as Art: Australia and the Meszaros Tradition, p.16.
Stokes, Tom (1974). 'A Short History of Stokes Limited.' Australian Coin Review. August, pp.15-16.
Items per page: 10 50 (showing 81 - 90) 1362 items
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Token - 1 Penny, Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne, Victoria, A ...
Copper one Penny token, minted by Thomas Stokes of Melbourne, circa 1862. Issued by Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne. This token is one of the large number o ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 2 -
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Token Die - 1 Penny, Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne, Victori ...
Steel one Penny Token obverse die, created by Thomas Stokes in Melbourne, in 1962. Used as a stock die by Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne. Thomas Stokes mig ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - 1 Penny, Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne, Victori ...
Steel one Penny Token obverse die, created by Thomas Stokes in Melbourne, in 1962. Used as a stock die by Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne. It is badly broke ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - 1 Penny, Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne, Victori ...
Steel one Penny Token obverse die, created by Thomas Stokes in Melbourne, in 1962. Used as a stock die by Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne. Thomas Stokes mig ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - 1 Penny, Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne, Victori ...
Steel one Penny Token die, created by Thomas Stokes in Melbourne, in 1962. Used as a stock die by Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne. Thomas Stokes migrated to ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - 1 Penny, Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne, Victori ...
Steel one Penny Token obverse die, created by Thomas Stokes in Melbourne, in 1962. This was apparently an experimantal die shape, prepared during Stokes development of token production ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - Halfpenny, Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne, Victo ...
Steel Halfpenny Token die, created by Thomas Stokes in Melbourne, in 1962. Used as a stock die by Thomas Stokes, Diesinker, Token Maker & Medallist, Melbourne. Thomas Stokes migrated to ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - 1 Penny, J. Hosie, The Scotch Pie Shop, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1862
Steel One Penny Token Die, made by Thomas Stokes, Melbourne, 1862. For tokens issued by J. Hosie, The Scotch Pie, Melbourne. James Hosie came to Melbourne in 1853 from Leith, Scotland. ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - 1 Penny, J.W. Buxton, Stationery Stores, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, circ ...
Steel One Penny Token, made by Thomas Stokes, Melbourne. For J.W. Buxton, Stationery Stores, Brisbane, circa 1862. J.W. Buxton appears to have run one of the largest stationery busines ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0 -
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Token Die - Obverse, S. Deeble, Draper, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1862
Steel One Penny Token, made by Thomas Stokes, Melbourne. For S. Deeble, Draper, Melbourne, 1862. Samuel Deeble arrived in Melbourne in 1853. He opened a shop in Melbourne shortly after ...
From: Melbourne, Australia Images: 0
