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Back to previous pageLOT 2002
Sold for (Inc. bp): £20
CIRCA 18TH CENTURY A.D.
(27.65 grams total, 19-25mm.).
Mixed group comprising of mostly silver issue coins, each worn flat and coin bent into a double-curved 's' profile for use as a token of love. [12, No Reserve]
PROVENANCE:
Found on various UK sites since 1974.
Property of an Essex collector.
FOOTNOTES:
The custom of giving a bent coin as a love-token is known from the 17th century in England. The coins were usually smoothed to obliterate the monarch’s head and then bent twice; sometimes they were engraved with initials or symbols such as hearts or knots. If the sweetheart accepted the youth's advances, she kept the token; if not, she disposed of the coin. The tradition is referred to in the children's rhyme 'There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, he found a crooked sixpence on a crooked stile.'
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