UPDATE

[jcb (THE THIMBLE) jones]

if i made a love spoon for my wife i know where it would end up , and i know i would end up in the royal glamorgan hospital  ,im a welshman born and breed and i dont know of anyone that makes love spoons ,it may have been a tradition 100s of years ago and maybe some villages still cash in on the past i think more popular down west wales than south ?? , pound notes are the only thing south wales women like 

[JBM]

Here is my favourite one from over the years.

Holed for a suspension loop.

How I would love to return it to the loser.   Jerry.

[Rob Two Spades]

I have found a few silver love tokens on farms in N Wales - I showed one to a farmer near Caernarfon aged over 100 and he told me that in Wales the young man would smooth a silver sixpence to remove the picture and then fold it. He would give it to a sweetheart after she agreed to be his girlfriend. (no jewellery shops nearby) He said that occasionally they would have his and her initials on it.  He said that they would not be able to meet in the actual farmhouse as it was considered indecent so would meet socially at the point at which the two neighbouring farms met - usually at a gate etc.  If the relationship failed badly she would fling the token over the gate towards the boy's farm - hence the large number we find on farms, especially near roads, paths, stiles and gates.

[Chef Geoff]

Rob I was told the same story virtually word for word by a farmer about 10 years ago, I was a believer back then, I said that that was brilliant as I'd often wondered if it was true to which he relied "apparently yes, we had a guy detecting here about 3 years ago and he found one and told me what it was" lol. It just seems a little difficult to believe that all these women are going around throwing the equivalent of £50 notes into fields and if they were doing it 100 years ago where are all the bent Vicy coins
It is a "nice" explanation and that's why it will probably remain the accepted one

[Val Beechey]

Geoff, what's value got to do with it.  I threw a £200 ring over the hedge the week before I got married. And that was 1963.
At that point I wouldn't have cared if it cost ten times that. 

Val

(and Yes I got it back after searching next doors garden for most of the rest of the week) 
Just had to chuckle to myself. I was re-living the moment and remembered the ring was followed by an ironing board 

[nonker10]

true geoff but ithink it must have gone out of fashion in victorian times because i have never found a viccy love token.but i have found them right back to liz 1st.

[Chef Geoff]

  yes but but I've found 3 in one field she must have been very unlucky in love and not too bright with finances either I bet you could have done with the Safari back then

[Chef Geoff]

true geoff but ithink it must have gone out of fashion in victorian times because i have never found a viccy love token.but i have found them right back to liz 1st.

Ah but this is the great dating trap that we all fall into at some point we can date the latest use but not the first, Lizzy coins would have only been 100 years old during Billy's reign and so could have been bent at any time in the same way that pierced Roman coins are often attributed to the Saxons wearing them hundreds of years later

[nonker10]

true as the hammereds were fazed out during his reign we will never know for sure.

[hotmill]

Sorry Geoff. I am just engaging in discussion. Never for one moment am I out to insult anybody and If my comments are taken as such then I apologise to you and everyone else. I feel that it will be unwise of me to try and promote further discussion if my intentions are misinterpreted. I can see that you don't really know me.

I had read somewhere that, in the past, it was a Welsh custom for wooden spoons to be hand carved by young men hoping to impress a loved one. That's all.

I didn't take offence John, they did used to carve spoons, not sure if they still give them as expressions of Love though.

[hotmill]

I found a William sixpence folded into love token a few weeks ago and it's engraved with the letters JJ. I've got a couple of other ones that are engraved with initials too, any ideas why ?  I've also found a Henry viii half groat made into a love token an a couple of Lizzies similar.

I've got a cartwheel penny with initials stamped into it, worn smooth as well. Like to see someone bend that bugger into an s shape!

[nonker10]

i wonder if someone had a vice or simiar tool especially bent into this shape to make these love tokens, that people would pay a nominal amount to someone to prove their affections to their lady?or man maybe??

[nonker10]

by that last comment i mean given to a man by a woman.