Silver-Mounted Shell Travelling Mirror

With everted chamfered rim, tiered bands of painted decoration including horses, fish, birds, ibexes and other creatures. 5.2 kg, 28.5 cm

Fine condition, rim chipped.

Property of a London gentleman; acquired before 2000. From the private collection of John Meredith, acquired since the 1990s; thence by descent.

Each coin worn flat and bent into a double-curved 's' profile, for use as a token of love. 17.55 grams total, 18-20 mm



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

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.'

Of academic interest, copper-coated lead seal impressions including presentation scenes, court scenes, bull-headed man in a frame; some with cuneiform text. 433 grams total, 39-72 mm



Possibly made by the British Museum. From a West Country, UK, private collection.