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 Replies: 10 / Views: 4,339 |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
I bought this with some Roman coins, It certainly seems very old, but no other provenance is attatched to it. Its been hti by a plough(I think) and looks to be english.   Thanks! |
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Moderator
 Australia
16830 Posts |
I'm not familiar with any coin, certainly not any English coin, that looks like this.
I'm wondering if it might be a token, or perhaps even a button or piece of jewellery.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
 United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Its definitely not a button or jewellery - I could see it being a token though. For what, I dont know. Are there any resources for identifying such coins? It came with a group of coins from 280-340AD, so it could be in that time slot. That being said, the same box also contained a victorian penny and a casino chip, so I can only assume its date.
I shall see if it matches celtic coins from the time
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Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
If the same box contained coins from a later period and no lettering/numerals on your example then I'd go for a token.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
It only contained a couple - the rest were byzantine and roman from the 4th century and late 3rd century. And if this is a token, I dont know what it is for (it is incredibly thin). It also has the 5 dots, maybe this signifies its denomination?
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Moderator
United States
23731 Posts |
I don't know of any coin type in the period you mention that used this type of cross. It was not adopted yet, the CHI-RHO was the Christian symbol. This piece is medieval and possibly from eastern Europe.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
As far as finding similar tokens is concerned, no such luck due to its lack of lettering. However, I did find a Medieval Coin from belgium listed in Rosenblum's collection from the 1200s which has a similar cross design on one side: *51604---Brussels. Anonymous Local Coinage. 1235-1280. AR Denier (.53) . Windmill type Cross of Brabent/Bridge or gangplank. SCMF-7369, dw-98. Nice VF. $175  Its also similar for having raised dots and similar colouring. |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2490 Posts |
The cross looks as though it derives from the Saxon cross as do the raised dots.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2878 Posts |
The first thought I had was that it was a boy bishop token, but now that I think about it I don't think it is. It might be some sort of early communion token. It also looks like there might be a lot of lead or tin in the metal.
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Thanks for the reply Bacchus - Ill look into both. After a little 'research' I found that it predates the earliest communion token by at least 200 years. But a great lead as I found almost identical tokens in a similar auction lot to a communion token - It identifies this as a 'Wine Tavern Token'. What that means is an enigma and there are few price estimates - the best I found is a dealer who lists similar coins at £10-£20, but in much better condition. Heres the most similar:  Im happy to lay the identification to rest - but I have no idea where this would end up (I suppose Tokens). Any word on what a Wine Tavern Token is would be great! |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2878 Posts |
Great investigating. We all learn sonething new all the time. It falls into the "paranumismatica" category I think.
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Replies: 10 / Views: 4,339 |
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Posted 07/02/2012 07:57 am
