Collecting Jamestown: Part 14. A Token Like No Other (2)

The saga continues …

In 1940 Ferguson and Steward described the medalettes as “stamped with a rose crossed by a thistle and surmounted by a crown.” The reverse was oddly left blank. They were puzzled. What were they? The British Museum was consulted, and their numismatists identified the pieces as admission tickets to the King’s Touch ceremony. They dated the rose and thistle coppers to the 1630s during the reign of Charles I.

A thin copper piece believed to be an admission ticket
to the King's Touch ceremony.

These tickets are rare. None have been found in English ground. So, how did the Maryland native get a string of them? As is often the case in archeology, there were more questions than answers.

We start by considering the King’s Touch ceremony. Here, we are on familiar ground, as we have seen that faith healing was one of the chief motivations for making a pilgrimage during the medieval cult of the saints. The offering of a bent coin in return for a miraculous remedy lingered in memory long after the Reformation. This faith in miracles was also held for the English king (or queen) who ruled by divine right. In particular, it was believed that the king could cure certain ailments with an invocation to God. After all, the monarch had connections.

Edward the Confessor (1042-66) was said to be the first to “cure” one of his subjects in the eleventh century. Of note, historians have suggested that the practice originated across the channel a few generations before with Robert II of the Franks. Nonetheless, Henry II (1154-1189) is credited with developing a ceremony with all the pomp expected of a divine service whereby the king doles out miracle cures. In short, the sick were touched by the king’s hand and given a Touch Piece that protected them from relapse.

The touch pieces …

I hope you are enjoying the story. There is more to come with a few twists. 

Collecting Jamestown: Part 13. A Token Like No Other (1).

Today I start a series within the Collecting Jamestown series: A story of a mysterious token.

I also announce a new book project. It is an exploration of talismanic coins with guest appearances of a few demons and witches. The work is untitled at this point, but I will share a rough draft of middle chapter that includes everything this blog holds dear: relic coins, colonial history, magic (including necromancy of course), plus an old ship or two.

"Jetton or medalet" found in 1940 with one side blank.

Our story begins with Alice Ferguson and her husband, Henry, who bought the “Hard Bargain Farm” along the Potomac River in 1923. This once prosperous tract was neglected and over-grown; even the farmhouse was ruined with warped planks and peeling paint. But the couple was undeterred, and after years of renovations, they began to probe the ground for artifacts. Ms. Ferguson was an artist, and her husband studied rocks, but after poking in the dirt, they became nascent archeologists who had discovered the first King’s Touch tokens in America.

Overlooking the Potomac, near the confluence of Piscataway creek, Ms. Ferguson discovered a vast deposit of bones containing 254 skulls. The Smithsonian was called in, and with the help of Dale Stewart and his team of shovels, a large Indian ossuary was excavated. The mass grave measured 16 by 20 feet with a shallow depth of three feet. It was filled with beads made of copper, blue glass, and shell. But one artifact stood out: “an ornate necklace of eighteen jetons or medalettes.”

What were these pieces? One side was completely blank; the other side ... .

To be continued.