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.

Old Sails: Tattered French Farming Jetton from 1627

I recent stumbled on an old galleon unloading fresh produce. It was a tattered piece: abrasively worn and decaying along the edges -- yet, still captivating.

The fully rigged ship was moored next to a castle keep. Two laborers unloaded the foodstuffs using a large ramp. They face each other, gesturing, exchanging money, telling stories. The sails were furled and the sea was calm. A welcome pause.

I suppose 1627 was a good year for crops and trade.

The legend reads: GEMINAT BENE DVCTA TALENTVM. This translates to: "She doubles her money." Yes, it was a good year for the French farmers.

Farmers? Well, the reverse depicts the linked shields of France and Navarre surrounded by a legend that labels the jetton as from the Treasurers General of the Farms of France.

Old ships on coins are exciting. You are bound to discover a new vessel in every cove. Each one provides an image into the past. Thematic collecting: What a relaxing pastime.

This one appeared on EBay mixed with other jettons and tokens pulled from the dirt and dusty drawers. Yes, it is a tattered old ship, but what do you expect ... this jetton was passed out to company workers over three centuries ago.

I could not let it set sail without me.

Do (all) Coin Collectors Believe in Magic?

Not all collectors believe in magic. Too bad. And, that’s okay.

We had a spirited (a pun, yes?) debate in our coin club meeting. I argued – of course – that slabs were bad, bad, bad. I got all manic about it: You might as well throw out condition grading as well. Who cares if a coin has been rated as “good” or “fine?”

And who are these raters pretending to be anyway?

I got many rebuttals.

A case bottle from Jamestown, TPQ 1610.
Would a brand new case bottle suffice?

You can’t sell them. You can’t determine the value. And for the plastic in particular: You need to protect them.

I’ve heard it all before. It is …

Just watered down collecting: one foot in the marketplace, the other foot trying to find a path to history. The wall is too high. No stile.

But one guy struck me with a bolt. “I want a coin that no one else has touched!”

Now that is heady stuff. A coin never touched by man (or woman). Or dirt, or dog, or … you get the idea.

He has a point. Sharp. And, he is no less the collector. (I hear the Morgan dollar crowd cheering in the distance. So too, the moderns are jubilant and chanting: “Bring on the American Eagles; Bring on the American Eagles.”)

These folks don’t believe in magic. Or do they? Maybe there is a strand of sympathetic magic in an MS-65 Morgan. (I’m still not sure about the Eagles though).

We know that relic coins contain a contagion. All magic pieces do. After all, a shadow does not strike a wall without leaving some trace. A coin touched is always so. Something of the toucher is left in the fabric. But another part of magic is born of similarity. Image magic. You know, witch bottles, dolls stuck with pins. This is the route that the Jamestown collector takes. He is mesmerized by a bent sixpence just like the one (but NOT the one!) found in the dirt at the fort.

So too, a bright CC Morgan might buzz with manna from its association to (but not its participation in) the Wild West.

I am going to spend all this icy weekend trying to wrap my puny brain around this! 

Collecting Jamestown: Part 11. Phoenix Token 2.

Here is the second half of the story: The Elizabethan Phoenix token found in Pit 1 at Jamestown.

Last week I reviewed the Jamestown find itself. It was an unexpected find, as very few have been recorded on the PAS database in the UK (see below).

Crowned Rose lead token of Elizabeth I

   Michael Mitchiner has likened the Phoenix tokens to Coronation Medals as several larger copper and pewter pieces depicting a portrait of the young queen on obverse and a phoenix rising from flames on the reverse are known. The legend on these pieces reads SOLA PHOENIX OMNIA MVNDI ET ANGLIAE GLORIA or “Alone, the Phoenix is all things: of the world and of England it is the glory.” Apparently, the Queen adopted the Phoenix as her personal device.

   The obverse on the piece pictured depicts a crowned rose flanked by E R for Elizabeth Regina. The legend reads BEATI REGINA.

   Mitchiner only pictured two of these lead tokens. He notes that they were modeled after the Coronation Medals. However, the phrasing on the lead tokens of BEATY REGINA is appropriate for a deceased Queen; as such, he suggested that the tokens were made in 1603 or thereabouts (as she died on 24 March 1602). There is debate, however, about when they were made with researchers also suggesting the 1570s and 1590s. Mysterious. If anyone has additional info, please share it.

   Also, it has been suggested that a similar token was made for Queen Mary – this is a puzzling claim. Perhaps they were referring to the more common double-headed eagle tokens -- that is another story I shall save for later.

   Of note, only three Phoenix tokens have been listed on the PAS database. All of them were found in cultivated fields, one in the Isle of Wright (SE England), another near Guildford (SE England), and one in Swindon (SW England). My piece came from Selby in Yorkshire (NW England). With these few, it is hard to pin them down geographically (south and east? about London?) -- this is the broad region where most of the Jamestown settlers came from.

In any case, I wonder who carried the piece found in Pit1? We can never know, but for sure, the piece was there, at Jamestown, where it was part of the action.