Choose fontsize:
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
News
jamiepearce
January 17, 2024, 07:59:51 PM
 Evening.been out the picture for a few years.is there any weekenders coming up this year?
rookypair
January 04, 2024, 09:57:08 AM
 I think everyone has dispersed in all directions. Good to see some of the original peeps posting to 
rjm
January 03, 2024, 11:26:38 PM
 This site is pretty dead now! 
TOMTOM
January 03, 2024, 05:38:50 PM
 HI IM HERE ANY RALLYS
dances with badgers
December 28, 2023, 09:40:42 AM
 the dreaded social media lol
DEADLOCK
December 27, 2023, 08:26:38 AM
 Still going social media plays a big part 
dances with badgers
December 26, 2023, 10:41:07 PM
 This site used to be amazing, where has everybody gone? 

View All

 

Currently there is 1 User in the Chatroom!





Click here if you
need van signs


Or here if you
need magnetic signs


Or here if you
need a
Corporate Video Production Company in Milton Keynes

See our
privacy policy here


Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Let me be the first of possibly many  (Read 3731 times)
Charles Cater
Sr. Member
****
Offline Offline

Posts: 471


WWW
« on: December 05, 2008, 04:36:55 PM »

        This is all about medieaval tokens.

The highest degree of security is apparent from the churchwardens' accounts relating to the communion tokens, and these had a higher value than the others because they were effectively receipts for local taxes, and some are also known to have currency values.

The lowest degree of security is shown by the crude cast tokens and the moulds in which they were cast, which could presumably have been counterfeited by anyone able to use his hands, and must have been barely worth copying otherwise they would never have been made that way.
Some I have seen that have been cast are really good, and are well saught after by collectors.There appears to have been three purposes which such tokens could have served.

(1). The piece-workers token, which survived until recently, in which the tokens were receipts for baskets of fruit picked and the like. I well remember tokens being issued in the 1930's when I used to accompany my school friends on a back breaking potato picking expedition in Lincolnshire. the tokens were of brass with just a number impressed upon it and one was given for every sackful collected, they were then given up to the "ganger boss" at the end of the day and the appropriate amount of agreed money was exchanged.
 I can tell you this, that if at any time they were lost in the field you never got paid out. I wonder if they have been recovered, there must be many still not found.

Since these were issued in return for a full basket or sack, then cashed at the end of the day's work, there would have been little opportunity for forgery, and little incentive for it because of their small value. Most of the crude moulds have come from the agricultural areas, or from areas which were agricultural until recently, which would support this.

(2). The jetton which we are familiar with, which was used for counting on a chequered board, this use is suggested by the large crude tokens from Old Sarum, Wiltshire, which are likely to be before circa 1220 A.D, but which are quite different from the known monetary tokens of the day.

I am thinking of the Hanns Krauwinkle Nuremberg token which is a particularly nice one to find. Recently I was invited to search the soft floor of a 15th Century hall where the brick tiles had been removed in the coarse of renovation by the owner with the financial help of English Heritage.

In the main room I found a beautiful mint condition George the 3rd farthing which obviously had been dropped early in its career. Also a Nuremburg token of the type just described turned up.
That too was in good condition, being of brass it was especially nicely preserved being buried in sand which formed the base of the floor beore the bricks were laid.

The fire was originally in the centre of the room and was placed on an inside wall with an added chimney in c1590. Many of the crude tokens are of the same size as the imported brass jettons, and may simply have been a cheaper form of them.

(3). The gaming-piece -- This is suggested by a late 17th century group from Greyfriars, Bristol, which contained lead tokens, plain pottery disks cut from potsherds, extremely worn copper coins, brass jettons, and a potsherd mould for casting lead tokens.
Similar potsherd moulds are held by museums at Bath and Cirencester, and might be of similar date and purpose. These leave the datespans of the various types of lead token to be considered.

Monetary Tokens
The 13th century cast pictorial types were the first widely dispersed, hoards being found in London and Dublin, stray finds in London, and a mould in Kirkudbrightshire, Scotland. That almost identical pieces should be found in in three different jurisdictions at the same time, suggest that the tokens may have been introduced by the church, since the church was the only authority common to all three places. That the church could be involved in issuing tokens is clear from the St. Nicholas Day lead "groats" and "pence" of Bury St Edmunds, and by later communion tokens.

From the 13th century onwards monetary lead tokens continued to be made, apparently coming to an end in Glasgow and Edinburgh early in the 19th century. That they were used this late in other parts of Britain is shown by a group from a shop in Devizes recently acquired by the museum there. Communion Tokens -- That they were in use as far apart as Norwich and Salisbury in the years following the Reformation suggest that they had been in use before that, but we have no evidence of them.

Piece-Workers' Tokens -- We have no evidence of these before the industrial revolution, but the crude moulds found in farming areas suggest they were introduced before that. They were in use in the hop-picking areas of the home counties until relatively recently.

Jettons -- The Old Sarum finds and comparable tokens from elsewhere suggest that these were produced from the early 13th century at least. They appear to have fallen out of use during the 17th century.

Gaming Pieces -- It is clearly next to impossible to pick out gaming-pieces from a mass of crude tokens, and they can only be recognised as gaming-pieces if they are excavated with disks that cannot reasonably be anything else. Even then , they matybe older monetary tokens or jettons re-used as gaming-pieces. I am not certain whether it would be a good idea to go back to basics and trade in like for like. One sheep for 100 tokens, three tokens to buy a bale of hay, one to buy a loaf.

If we were paid in tokens, that would send the chancellor in a spin, imagine selling ten ton of lead instead of gold to the Russians in exchange for some nuke fallout shelters. Makes you think doesn't it.. All the lead bits we find could be used to pay your council tax
Logged

Say nought and you won't be controversial, or so they say?

http://detectoruser.co.uk

http://members.boardhost.com/Tom1/
JohnF
Full Member
***
Offline Offline

Posts: 127



« Reply #1 on: December 05, 2008, 10:10:50 PM »

Well done Charles, a very interesting read.
John.
Logged

You wont find a thing if you aint got that swing.
Neil
Administrator
Superhero Member
*****
Offline Offline

Posts: 4973



« Reply #2 on: December 06, 2008, 12:41:10 PM »

Interesting post Charles - I have a few and understand far better now their use.

Thanks
Neil
Logged

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boys life when he has a raging urge to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

Mark Twain 1835 - 1910

If anyone wants to sell any S c r a p gold or sovereigns, regardless of condition -  ask me for a price first please.

Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  


Home
SimplePortal 2.3.3 © 2008-2010, SimplePortal