Can't Identify

to CCF! Need better pictures to help you.

What I think we're seeing in the first pic is a chalice (radiant), with the round communion wafer (the host) above it, surmounted by the letters IHS. Such medals are given to Catholic children at their first communion. A sharper image of the first pic might allow the writing around the edge to give us more specifics.

It's not like any Finnish coin I've ever seen.

Finnish coins usually have a lion trampling on a curved sword (representing the East) and holding a straight sword (representing the West).

I'm no expert or even a collector of them but I believe as stated that it is a communion coin. Were so popular in parts of PA that I think I have seen a book or two written on them. "COMMUNION TOKENS of ALLEGHENY COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA, Culleiton. A wealth of information on the churches, issuers. Soft-Bound 2004, 102p. Detailed descriptions, Historical Notes"

Fuzzy317, I was wrong and you were right. I was thinking of Finnish coins issued after Finland gained their independence. Coins issue prior to that did indeed look very much like the medal.

I did misspeak when I called these Catholic. They are particularly Presbyterian, first proposed by Calvin in 1560. Though I think this one has more in common with more modern, Catholic first communion tokens.

There is a difference between "communion medals", such as this piece, and "communion tokens" such as those in the book mentioned by Circus.

Communion medals were and still are given, particularly in the Catholic and High Church Anglican/Episcopalian traditions, when a child/young adult partakes in their First Communion ceremony. As far as I am aware they serve no particular purpose or function within the church, other than as a reminder to that young person of their new status as a Communicant.

Communion tokens, in the Presbyterian sense of the word, served a very different purpose. These churches traditionally observe "closed communion" - only certified members of the church may partake. In order to ensure no trespassers intruded upon the communion service (which happens two or three times a year), the practise arose back in the 1600s of distributing communion tokens prior to the service. The distribution was done by the minister, who might ask questions regarding the member's spiritual state before deeming them worthy or not of taking part. Anybody turning up without a token would be refused entry.

Early communion tokens were pretty crude: usually just a small piece of lead, stamped with the initials of the minister or the church. Later tokens from the 1800s were more elaborate, often with pictures of the church, the communion table and the relevant Bible verses.

Communion tokens are known not just from Scotland where they originated, but everywhere the Scottish church spread to - including Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand.