Seeking Help On British Museum Electrotypes - But Tokens, Not Ancients.

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daltonista Pillar of the Community United States 1057 Posts	Posted 05/14/2025 7:29 pm This is my unusual British Museum electrotype of the "excessively rare" halfpenny token from Dawley in Shropshire, Britain, that was issued in 1811 by Gilbert Gilpin, a local innovator and industrialist. Gilpin's chief contribution to the Industrial Revolution was his invention of flexible metal chain that eliminated the reliance on rope in heavy equipment such as cranes. Indeed, his token itself advertised that he "Sells chains for pits cranes &c of best horse-nail iron at 5d per lb." Examples of the token itself show up on the market only about once every 5-10 years, most recently in October 2018, when a nice unc brought £2,200 (before premiums) in a Dix Noonan Webb auction. As for my specimen, in 2017 I was fortunately able to acquire a group of about three dozen tokens from the last tranche of Francis Cokayne's 19th-century collection to be released from Baldwin's Basement, where they'd been in storage since he passed away in 1945...and among them was this electrotype reproduction of the coveted Gilpin halfpenny. Those of you who have collected British tokens may recognize Cokayne's ticket, which attributes the token as "An electrotype of Dawley Halfpenny from BM. specimen" -- referring to the British Museum, we can safely conjecture. The flip side addresses Cokayne's source, as follows: "[bought at] Glendening's Davis sale 21/7/20 Lot 75 25 pieces 50/-." The "Davis" whose tokens Mr. Cokayne won at auction on that day was William J. Davis, the gentleman who assembled the first authoritative (and exhaustive!) catalog of Britain's early 19th-century tokens, published in 1904 and on every serious Regency Period token collector's shelf to this day. Here's the brief mention given to my "token" in that sale's catalog, which I was able to download as a PDF from the Newman Numismatic Portal: Much has been written about the electrotypes that emerged from the British Museum from roughly 1858 to 1934, and specimens of the excellent Robert Ready exhibits of ancients and sets of European historical medals are seen regularly at auction. All are considered collectible in their own right. What I have NOT been able to find is any listing of Conders or other tokens that were electrotyped there -- or even any mention of their existence. We know that electrotypes could be special-ordered from the British Museum during the years when Davis was actively studying and accumulating British tokens; indeed, the Museum made them available at a halfcrown each. My question now is whether anyone else here has seen -- or owns -- other electrotyped tokens that can be traced back to the British Museum? Many thanks in advance for helping me learn whether there are others out there! "If everything seems to be under control, you're just not going fast enough." --- Mario Andretti Edited by daltonista 05/14/2025 7:49 pm Report this Post to the Staff

livingwater Pillar of the Community United States 2213 Posts	Posted 05/15/2025 7:23 pm Interesting. Perhaps you could contact the keeper of coins at the British Museum for info. They have responded to several of my inquiries about ancient coins. Edited by livingwater 05/15/2025 7:26 pm Report this Post to the Staff
daltonista Pillar of the Community United States 1057 Posts	Posted 05/15/2025 10:34 pm Thank you for the suggestion, livingwater. Perhaps you're familiar with Mary Hinton at the British Museum? She's running a research project on the framed sets of electrotyped ancients that the Museum sold for many years in partnership with the Ready family members who worked there. I have indeed reached out to her for info or a referral, but only just yesterday. Hope to hear from her with something helpful! Look at the email address she uses: readyelectros@gmail.com! "If everything seems to be under control, you're just not going fast enough." --- Mario Andretti Report this Post to the Staff
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