R. Lovett Jr Merchant Token -- St. George And The Dragon

Created as an advertising piece, and modeled after the Pistrucci design of St. George slaying the dragon made famous on the British sovereigns, this little token is almost assuredly among the smallest of all of the merchant tokens of the era. Coming in at only 15 mm in diameter, most of these were struck in German silver, with brass and copper much less common. Regardless of the metal composition, these are quite difficult to find in general, and downright tough to find in uncirculated condition. They are also quite "spendy" for their size (gem-MS examples come in at around $300 and up).

After nearly 3.5 years of searching, I recently added this lovely example to my horse-themed collection. I'm providing an array of images below to show the state of preservation but also to give you a frame of reference for the small size of this token. The 15 mm diameter is half-way between the diameter of the 3 cent silver (14mm) and the silver Half Dime (15.9mm) issues of the USA.

This particular token is graded MS65BN by NGC, but is labeled incorrectly as PA-349. The correct attribution is PA-351a as listed in Rulau's reference. As best I can tell it is the plain edge version, but I'm unable to verify completely as it resides in an older no-prongs NGC holder (which, for something this small, I actually prefer -- the newer holder prongs tend to encroach on the design for small coins).

Cheers,
-Brandon

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