Help with RFR HERNE HILL token

[hantstoken]

Another item I would appreciate help with.  It is 17mm in diameter, brass with a plain edge.  Reads:

R.F.R HERNE HILL // R

I know there is a Herne Hill in London, and it looks like a machine token, but I can not find it in Ralph Haye's book on British machine tokens.

Thanks

[Afrasi]

Just a guess: Perhaps a military token? Royal Fusiliers Regiment or something else?

[Figleaf]

There is a place called Hernehill, Faversham, Kent. The local war memorial doesn't have someone with a last name starting with R.

Peter

[malj1]

It doesn't appear in any of the Hayes supplements either but I would agree it is almost certainly a prize from an amusement machine.

Found this entry on Google but its a dead link.

rfr.co.uk - Whois.de
%3curl%3ename.whois.de/rfr.co.uk
Registrant: Giant Games Ltd Registrant type: UK Limited Company, (Company number: 1848140) Registrant's address: 19 Half Moon Lane Herne Hill London

and a search for Giant Games:

Giant Games Limited
active 19 Half Moon Lane, London, SE24 9JU

[malj1]

See here for the man behind the company? name? at present.

[malj1]

I do now have three other types for this company of R.F.Richardson. See my page here

Known as Giant Games Ltd

Registered office address changed from 19 Half Moon Lane (Herne Hill) London SE24 9JU to 35 Giant Arches Road London SE24 9HP on 16 December 2019

[Figleaf]

Another one solved. Excellent research, Mal.

Peter

[africancoins]

If only it was so easy.

R. F. Richardson as a company could have ceased to be more than 80 years ago.... But yes some companies survive....

The RFR domain is registered with Giant Games because domain names are the business of Giant Games.

Here...

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/01848140

Giant Games Limited is detailed as being at postcode SE24 9HP which is evidently in Herne Hill, London.

This coincides with Herne Hill on the tokens.... Which it would seem is just a coincidence.

Looking for other clues... even the name, address and phone number on your "Hayes-321.M3" do very little to track down the issuer and the nature of the business of R.F.Richardson.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[africancoins]

Some other bits of information....

The large "R" on the piece shown in this topic is likely for "REPLAY" and that is further reason (apart from the overall style) to consider this to be a machine token.

Hernhill is in Kent.

Searches on Google Books for Park Villa's in Cheam only get results in books as new as about 1922 (publication year), nothing later. I cannot find Park Villa's on a modern map of Cheam. So could it have been built over?

The styles of all tokens concerned fits fairly well with 1920s/1930s.

Not too much more information than what the place names have already told us but.. Herne Hill is in Surrey ((South London)) and is about 8 miles away from Cheam in Surrey ((South London)). Cheam is about a mile from Sutton, Surrey ((South London)) this fits with the location in Cheam having a "Sutton" phone number (an older London code which is sometimes referred to as being that of  "Sutton and Cheam") as to be seen on the token "Hayes-321.M3" on the page Malcolm's mention.

So two "R.F.R." locations Park Villa's, Cheam, Surrey and not so far away in Herne Hill, Surrey, more likely in that order.

But who was R.F. Richardson and what was his business? No idea...

Thanks Mr Paul Baker