NEWSLETTER NO. 17 - Mar 2008
WADHURST HISTORY SOCIETY
Whilst doing work on his house, Beals Oak Cottage in Coombe Lane, one of our members, Jim Workman, found this lead token at the bottom of an interior lath and plaster wall. Extensive research has failed to determine its exact nature but it has been examined by several experts in the field, including the Museum of London. It has been logged under the Portable Antiquities Scheme as:
Cast leaden token. Mould alignments: 0°. Reverse mould slightly larger than obverse mould.
Inscription Obverse: BARNET ·· I BONES, laureate bust of George III right, ‘Pellet’ outer circle. Profile bust similar to those on copper halfpennies of 1806 and 1807.
Reverse: No inscription. Cock standing right, pellet outer circle. Thickness: 2.59 mm Diams: 56 & 54 mm Weight: 59.91gm
The token is very similar to a whole range of tokens known as ‘Billys and Charleys’ after a couple of semi-literate ditchdiggers who moved aggressively to supply "medieval" artifacts when a taste for them arose among British collectors in the middle of the nineteenth century. Large scale public works in London and Paris led to excavations and dredging operations in which a number of authentic pilgrim signs, brooches, and other items came to light. When the demand outstripped the supply, these enterprising men produced a line of (stunningly inauthentic) items which they sold with great success.
The Things People Find