Post Medieval Silver Love Token Collection

18TH-19TH CENTURY A.D.

3/4 in. (17.55 grams total, 18-20 mm).

Each coin worn flat and bent into a double-curved 's' profile, for use as a token of love. [10, No Reserve]

Provenance

Found Tyne and Wear, UK.
This lot is for UK buyers only, not for export.

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 it. The tradition is referred to in the children's rhyme 'There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, and found a crooked sixpence upon a crooked stile.'

CONDITION

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AUCTIONS:

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LOT 2178