Let's See Your Copper Coins, Tokens, Or Medals!

[will1976]

From R.C. Bell's 'The Building Medlets of Kempson and Skidmore' 

'St. Mary's Hall was originally built as a meeting and banqueting place for three of the city guilds, St. John's, Trinity, and St. Katharine's. Building began about 1340-2 while the Great Hall itself was started in 1394 and finished in 1414. Later it became used for Corporation festivities, and sometimes as a theatre. The building was extensively repaired in 1580 and in 1753 the old brick floors were removed and replaced with oak planking'

It also states that 'A few of these pieces were struck in silver' but doesn't list which ones

[Paulus]

2 hours ago, will1976 said:

Yes they are, although the Bath series seems to be scarcer. I've only seen a couple of those.

 

 

Do you mean these? I have 3

[will1976]

5 minutes ago, Paulus said:

Do you mean these? I have 3

Yes those are the ones!

[Paulus]

Newbie, now 8 Kempson's Birmingham buildings left to collect ...

This is now known as St Paul’s Church, and a spire has been added

[will1976]

1 hour ago, Paulus said:

Newbie, now 8 Kempson's Birmingham buildings left to collect ...

Well done, I think we're slowly getting there! I'm awaiting delivery of 'Jerusalem temple' should arrive in the morning 

[JLS]

Recently picked up this unofficial farthing token - W.B. Reeves of Birmingham, 1867 dated type (Withers 870). Not the nicest grade but tough to find. 

[will1976]

3 hours ago, JLS said:

Recently picked up this unofficial farthing token - W.B. Reeves of Birmingham, 1867 dated type (Withers 870). Not the nicest grade but tough to find. 

A nice pick up, some of the unofficial farthings are very scarce. Even some of the ones listed in withers as relatively common can be hard to find in a decent grade. Is it an area you collect much of or just ones of interest? 

[JLS]

2 hours ago, will1976 said:

A nice pick up, some of the unofficial farthings are very scarce. Even some of the ones listed in withers as relatively common can be hard to find in a decent grade. Is it an area you collect much of or just ones of interest? 

I've not been collecting the unofficial farthings for long but I have a fair few now. I agree that it's really difficult to find perfect specimens of any of these - I don't want to buy the common gilded tokens unless they have complete and unworn gilding, which is starting to look like an unreasonable expectation !

My main areas of interest in British numismatics are 18th century tokens and countermarked/engraved coins from the 18th and 19th centuries, so it's a natural continuation. Most of my coin budget goes on thalers so it's nice to collect a field where rarities aren't too expensive yet !

Do you collect the series ?

[will1976]

14 hours ago, JLS said:

Do you collect the series ?

Yes I've been collecting them for the past 4 or so years now, I have around 250. It started off with a random one which i bought for a fiver, it turned out to be quite scarce. I started looking for them then and I've been lucky in picking up some of the rare ones. I'll post a few pics on my next day off if your interested 

[JLS]

On 8/12/2019 at 1:55 PM, will1976 said:

I’ll post a few pics on my next day off if your interested 

Please do ! 

[JLS]

Here is another item from my "unofficial farthing" collection - actually probably a gaming counter. I've seen the same obverse die used for a "To Hanover" token. Anyone familiar with these blank reverse/initialed pieces ?

[will1976]

1 hour ago, JLS said:

probably a gaming counter.

This is one of the ones I have, as you say probably a gaming counter. I'm assuming, possibly wrongly, that you bought the blank piece and had stamped on your initials or own design 

[JLS]

7 minutes ago, will1976 said:

I'm assuming, possibly wrongly, that you bought the blank piece and had stamped on your initials or own design 

 

Nice piece - I like the swan ! 

That's a plausible theory. My piece does have gilding inside the stamped initials on the reverse. Don't know if that precludes the letters having been stamped after the piece was gilded.

[will1976]

A couple of my unofficial farthings, having an issue with sizing as only got my phone for pics at the moment. The rather worn example is W4640, listed as RRR with no picture while the other is a more pristine example of W4959b

[will1976]

4 minutes ago, JLS said:

Don't know if that precludes the letters having been stamped after the piece was gilded.

Assuming again I'd of thought they'd all of been gilded and you bought and had stamped however many you wanted 

[JLS]

22 minutes ago, will1976 said:

A couple of my unofficial farthings, having an issue with sizing as only got my phone for pics at the moment. The rather worn example is W4640, listed as RRR with no picture while the other is a more pristine example of W4959b

The W4640 is great - nice to see it for the first time ! Do you have examples of any of the other ones the Withers couldn't find ? I don't own any "RRR" pieces yet, although I have a few "RR" tokens. 

[will1976]

Top W2680, this is one of my favourites. Simple design but tells you all you need to know. Bottom W2190. Only listed as R but this is the only example I've ever seen

[will1976]

5 minutes ago, JLS said:

Do you have examples of any of the other ones the Withers couldn't find ? 

I do have a couple, will find them out and add some pics later

[will1976]

19 hours ago, JLS said:

Do you have examples of any of the other ones the Withers couldn't find ? 

An example of W5062 Thomson hatters. I have two or three others where withers don't have a picture 

[JLS]

5 hours ago, will1976 said:

An example of W5062 Thomson hatters. I have two or three others where withers don't have a picture 

Lovely condition too ! Have you sent these photos on to Paul Withers ? 

[will1976]

On 8/15/2019 at 10:08 PM, JLS said:

Have you sent these photos on to Paul Withers ? 

I have sent a picture of this one and one other to them but in their reply they said there was no plans at present to issue a revised catalogue 

[Gaz T]

Hi all.

Picked this in an antique shop for £45 but not so sure its a genuine medal or reproduction.

The description label that came with it says Medal in vermeil, i believe this is silver-gilt.

The medal is stamped Bronze with a little f above on the side of the medal, I cant imagine this being period.

Its also had a loop fitted at some point which is gold, maybe the best thing going for it.

The weight and size of the medal are correct to the description that came with it.

Sold by house Platt, i have no idea what this could be. any ideas much appreciated.

Genuine or not for the money i can live with it.

 

 

 

[Sword]

I don't collect medals or know anything about them. But if it say "bronze" on the edge, then surely the description must be wrong in calling it "vermeil" which does indeed mean silver gilt. 

[Gaz T]

Yep someone got it wrong!  I would say its more like gilt bronze.

 

[Sword]

There are silver and vermeil versions on sale on the web. I think your description is a direct translation of the vermeil medal's French description. The "House of Platt" is Maison Platt which is a coin & medal shop. https://www.maisonplatt.com/default.asp?langue=en

This is the medal for sale:

http://www.123numismatique.com/documents/monnaies/fiche.php?categorie=medailles&id=243

 

Your bronze version has a somewhat cruder design in my view. (The lace loop at the bottom of the queen's portrait is missing). The font is different. The vermeil medal has wavy bottoms serifs to the letters. The edge of the bronze medal and the beading look a lot more modern to me. So I imagine yours is a reproduction or restrike. The word bronze was stamped on the edge presumably so that people cannot confuse it with the vermeil version. 

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2019 by Sword