J. Sainsbury West Croydon Station, Provision Merchant Opposite, Wholesale Depot, London N.W. George III Token. Georgian tokens are very common metal detecting finds. Another George III token trying to look like a spade guinea. These are very common, almost as common as the George III “In Memory of the Good Old Days” Gaming token I posted in an earlier blog.
A George III “In Memory of the Good Old Days” Spade Guinea Gaming Token dated 1797. Georgian gaming tokens are very common metal detecting finds and this example is one of the most common. This token was made to look like a gold spade guinea. One source I came across said that these tokens claims that they were frequently given out to theatre audiences as a memento or keepsake.
This post is part of an ongoing photo-blog series on identifying common metal detecting finds, in the future, I will try to post as many of the Georgian and Victorian gaming token types as I possibly can.
If you are interested in tokens be sure to have a look at Edward “Ted” Fletcher’s series of books about tokens (Leaden Tokens & Tallies – Roman to Victorian, Tokens and Tallies Through the Ages and Tokens & Tallies 1850-1950) available from your local metal detector dealer or direct from Greenlight Publishing, the same firm that produces Treasure Hunting Magazine.
A very nice grade Hanns Krauwinckel Nuremburg Jetton dating from around 1580-1610. Although very common metal detecting finds, they are very hard to come by in good, collectable, grades. Greatly under rated as finds by far too many metal detectorists, Jettons are medieval hammered silver without the silver. It is believed that these tokens were used for accounting. This post is part of an ongoing photo-blog series on identifying common metal detecting finds.
For lots more information on Jettons and Tokens, Edward “Ted” Fletcher, the founding father of the hobby of metal detecting in this country, has written an excellent series of books on identifying tokens and Jettons that I highly recommend, they can be bought from most metal detecting shops and dealers, or can be ordered directly from Greenlight Publishing, who also produce Treasure Hunting Magazine.
This postcard, dated around 1908, should be useful to anyone trying to identify any lead communion/church tokens found whilst metal detecting! These are lead communion or church tokens issued by several different parishes in Scotland, but they could turn up as metal detecting finds anywhere! This post is part of an ongoing photo-blog series on identifying common metal detecting finds.
If you are interested in lead tokens, be sure to take a look at Edward “Ted” Fletcher’s book Leaden Tokens & Tallies – Roman to Victorian, published in 2005 by Greenlight Publishing, the same company that produces Treasure Hunting Magazine, the book should be available from your local metal detecting shop, or can be ordered on-line direct from Greenlight Publishing. Ted Fletcher is the founding father of metal detecting in this country and what he doesn’t know about metal detecting finds isn’t worth knowing!
Flatbed scanning and image manipulation technology have come a long way since 1997 when I first made Coins of the Romans Relating to Britain By John Y. Akerman, 1836, available for free on the internet! (See some of my earlier and more primitive scanning attempts here) So I have been revisiting this classic work to provide better quality images of the interesting woodcuts of roman coins contained in this book:
Above: Obverse. IMP ALLECTVS P F AVG. Imperator Allectus Pius Felix Augustus.
Reverse. ADVENTVS AVG. Adventus Augusti. Allectus on horseback, his right hand raised, his left holding the hasta: before, a captive seated on the ground: in the exergue, S P C.
A very unusual coin, for Allectus at least, this particlar reverse is very similar to the now famous denarius of Carausius from the Frome Hoard, found by metal detectorist Dave Crisp. Roman Coins and Their Values, 4th revised edition, doesn’t list this particular coin, could it be a forgery inspired by the Carausius denarius, or just a very rare issue of Allectus?
Above: The classic coin of Allectus, the Galley reverse. RCV lists three different ‘Galley’ types.
See also: Coins of the Romans Relating to Britain, Plates I-VI
Some early 17th century book fittings as the book binder intended! This book was bound, probably in Oxford, in around 1618-1620. The book has undoubtedly seen better days and the repair to the spine is really quite unfortunate.
One of the most touching things about books like this are the personal notes about births, deaths and notable incidents made by the owners. This one also contains the recipes for folk remedies to various ailments.
