Oldest love token I have found.

[Doug]

A few years ago I was searching along and old footpath when I found this Elizabeth 1st love token.

[nonker10]

hi doug
    i've found two liz 1st love tokens but nothing before that.maybe some of these coins were still knocking about in the reign of will 3rd when i think the hammereds were done away with,will the 3rd seems to be the starting point for love tokens.but i have never heard of a james 1st,charles 1st or second, or for that matter a james the 2nd love token???.unless someone can tell us different.

[Chef Geoff]

I've seen a few but not many Lizzy examples and that's a very good point you make Nonker about when it was bent, I think we all (well I do) get stuck in thinking coins are lost during the reign of the monarch on the coin but as a child I remember it was quite common to have Victorian coins in change and the lack of examples from the intermediate kings could just be down to the relative scarcity of their coins in comparison to Lizzy, there are lots of later Georgian halfpenny examples though, the bigger question is what they actually were the theory of a love token is just that a theory with absolutely no evidence, as far as I know, to back it up

[Dungbeetle]

The earliest love token that I found was a half groat of Henry viii, there is a picture of it somewhere on the site. I've had a Lizzie 3d as well but they do tend to be William 3d sixpences.

[grego]

Very nice find Good pics

[nonker10]

nice one dungbeetle thats the oldest love token i've heard of.was it very worn?also geoff how did they make the love tokens a will the third sixpence is qiite meaty but you never see any evidence of plier type marks or anything to indicate how they were bent,maybe they were heated first+ they always remind me of ying yang due to the sideways shape which as a love token would make perfect sense(male& female).

[Chef Geoff]

 A good question and one I don't think anyone has a definite answer for but given the sheer number found it must have been a simple process that was available to most people so excludes things like vices etc but as you say there are never any tell-tale signs of either being gripped or impacted

[nonker10]

indeed geoff

[Chef Geoff]

I had a phone call this afternoon from a detectorist who wasn't a member but had read this thread and offered the suggestion that they could be bent by placing the coin between floorboards and pushing with the foot which does seem a nice simple and effective method, a door jam would also offer enough grip and being wood neither would leave a mark

[nonker10]

i reckon that could be it.i was thinking about a door jamb.there's probably some literature out there with the answer.but floorboards and a foot sounds good.