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farthing

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Posts posted by farthing

  1. Great Britain has a long history of not producing enough small currency to support the needs of commerce.  Notable periods of the populace resorting to the use of tokens to facilitate trade include the 1660's, 1790's and the 1810's, each of which have a vast variety of tokens to collect and many ardent collectors.  Properly the tokens from the 1790's are '18th Century Provincial Token Coinage'  but commonly referred to in the US as 'Conder' tokens after James Conder.  James was not the first contemporary cataloger of the tokens but his was the first work used widely by collectors.  His book was subsequently replaced by James Atkins book 'Tradesmen's Tokens of the 18th Century' and finally by the Dalton & Hamer book 'The Provincial Token Coinage of the 18th Century'

    Many of the tokens were used in commerce (genuine trade tokens or GTT) while others were general tokens for trade, political tokens, private tokens, and medaletts made for collectors.  They were actively collected in the 1790's which helps account to the huge numbers still found in mint condition.

    There are more than 1000 varieties of GTT

    If you would like to see some of the variety of tokens my Registry collection of these tokens can be found here: https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/wcm/CoinCustomSetView.aspx?s=1394

  2. Ok, I'll play - farthing sized token catalogued as Middlesex Spence D&H 1095a, the obverse combining the head of a devil with that of the Prime Minister William Pitt, the reverse refers to the Seditious Meetings Act of 1795, commonly referred to as the Gagging Act.  Provenance to Francis Cokayne which is about as good as it gets.  Our host graciously graded it as 66RB.

     

    MiddlesexSpenceDH1095a.jpg

  3. Latest tokens graded by NGC.  The photos are by NGC, the tokens are darker than imaged.

     

    Dorsetshire Blandford DH 1 from Baldwin's Basement Sale #2

    Graded 64BN

    DorsetshireBlanfordDH1.jpg

     

    Middlesex Skidmore's Globe Series DH 122 from Bill McKivor

    Graded 62BN

    MiddlesexSkidmoreGlobeSeriesDH122.jpg

     

    Middlesex Skidmore's Clerkenwell Series DH 161 from Soveriegn Rarites, ex. David Dykes plated in his book "Coinage and Currency in Eighteenth Century Britain"

    Graded 64BN

    MiddlesexSkidmoreClerkenwellDH161.jpg

     

    Middlesex Skidmore's Clerkenwell Series DH 164 from Baldwin's Auction

    Graded 65RB

    MiddlesexSkidmoreClerkenwellDH164.jpg

     

    Middlesex Skidmore's Miscellaneous Series DH 173 from Bill McKivor

    Graded 63BN

    MiddlesexSkidmoreMiscellaneousDH173.jpg

     

    Scotland Argyllshire Inverary DH 2 from Dix Noonan Webb's Robbie Brown Auction

    Graded 63BN

    ArgyllshireInveraryDH2.jpg

  4. Just receive my grades for a Crossover submission.  All pictures are by NGC using their Photo Vision service.  I am quite happy with the photos.

     

    Middlesex National Series DH 183 in White Metal from a Heritage auction.  PCGS grade 62, NGC grade 61 PL - only one graded by NGC

    MiddlesexNationalDH183WMSm.jpg

     

    Middlesex Political & Social Series DH 216 from a Davisson auction.  PCGS 64BN, NGC 63BN

    The token has more of a milk chocolate appearance.

    MiddlesexPoliticalSocialDH216.jpg

     

    Middlesex Burchell's DH 274 Bis in White Metal from a Heritage auction.  PCGS 63, NGC 63 - only one graded by NGC

    MiddlesexBurchellDH274BisWM.jpg

     

    Middlesex Ching's DH 282 from a Davisson auction.  PCGS 64BN, NGC 65BN

    MiddlesexChingDH282.jpg

     

    Middlesex Spence DH 804c from a Davisson auction.  PCGS 62BN, NGC 62BN

    MiddlesexSpenceDH804c.jpg

     

    Middlesex Stinton's DH 904 from a Davisson auction.  PCGS 64BN, NGC 64BN

    MiddlesexStintonDH904.jpg

  5. Last set of 4 tokens from this batch.  All images by JKCoins.

    Warwickshire Birmingham DH 170 in white metal from eBay

    Graded MS 63

    WarwickshireBirminghamDH170WMSm.jpg

     

    Invernesshire Inverness DH 1a from Baldwin's St. James auction

    Graded 65RB

    InvernesshireDH1aSm.jpg

     

    Invernessshire Inverness DH 3a from same auction lot as previous

    Graded 66RB

    InvernesshireDH3aSm.jpg

     

    Invernessshire Inverness DH 4 from same auction lot as previous.  The token has excess metal along edge - not damage

    Graded 64BN

    InvernesshireDH4Sm.jpg

     

    There were 2 additional Invernesshire tokens in the lot, both of which are MS.

  6. 20 hours ago, Just Bob said:

    Those are some gorgeous pieces. Was it intentional or coincidence that four of the five have shields on the obverse (date) side?

    Just a coincidence, shields are used as a design on many of the tokens in the series - heraldic iconography is quite extensively documented in England with definitions for every part of a shield, arms, supporters, etc.  For some, if there was not a recognized heraldic definition for their family a shield image was made up!

     

    The description of the heraldic imagery on the Coventry token would be "The Arms of the City of Coventry: Per pale gules and vert, an elephant, on his back a tower triple-towered, all or.  Crest: A leopard passant proper (on the token the tinctures of the elephant and the tower are shown as argent). "

  7. Just had grades posted for the second half of my submission.  Below are 5 of the 9 tokens. All photos by JKCoins.

    Buckinghamshire Slough DH 22 from a 2009 Stacks auction.  These were actually minted in the late 1830's but were included in the series.

    Graded 65BN

    BuckinghamshireSloughDH22Sm.jpg

     

    Gloucestershire Gloucester DH 9 from Bill McKivor

    Graded 64BN

    GloucestershireGloucesterDH9Sm.jpg

     

    Kent Hawkhurst DH 30 from eBay

    Graded 65RB

    KentHawkhurstDH30Sm.jpg

     

    Middlesex Bayly's DH 253 from Gatewest Coins

    Graded 64BN

    MiddlesexBaylyDH253Sm.jpg

     

    Warwickshire Coventry DH 271 from Jerry Bobbe

    Graded 66BN

    WarwickshireCoventryDH271Sm.jpg

  8. The grades for my latest submission were just posted and one has me scratching my head.  A white-medal Conder token with the grade "MS 62 3"  (I'm going with the idea of adding the 2 values and making it a MS 65 :) )

    Obvious mechanical error, they are checking to see if they can stop the package before its picked up for shipping.

     

    If you are wondering here is the photo taken by JKCoins:

    WarwickshireBirminghamDH170WMSm.jpg

  9. I also submitted 5 Spence tokens that have amazing surfaces

    Middlesex Spence DH 691 from Alan Davisson, ex. Cokayne

    Graded 66RB

    MiddlesexSpenceDH691Sm.jpg

     

    Middlesex Spence DH 707 ex. Alan Davisson Auction

    Graded 65BN

    MiddlesexSpenceDH707Sm.jpg

     

    Middlesex Spence DH 708 ex. Alan Davisson Auction

    Graded 65BN

    MiddlesexSpenceDH708Sm.jpg

     

    Middlesex Spence DH 713 ex. Alan Davisson Auction

    Graded 64BN

    MiddlesexSpenceDH713Sm.jpg

     

    Middlesex Spence DH 776 ex. Alan Davisson Auction (all 4 from the same auction)

    Graded 65RB

    MiddlesexSpenceDH776Sm.jpg

  10. I too have several inked Conder tokens in my collection, one of which can be traced back to D.T. Batty's collection (he is noted for his "Batty's Catalogue of the Copper Coinage of Great Britain, Ireland, British Isles, and Colonies, Local & Private Tokens, Jettons, & c." who had a collection of 25,000+ varieties that were inked to match the index number in his catalogue).

     

    I also have one NGC token attributed incorrectly, but it is one of the many Wilkinson varieties and it is graded as AU50 (I grade it somewhat lower).