10-22-2022 11:38 PM
Found this piece inside one old wooden box. 10 mm diameter, 0.8 grams, copper, Double Sided "One Penny"
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10-24-2022 03:39 PM - edited 10-24-2022 03:39 PM
@balkania05 wrote:Do you think it can be an essay?
an essai? no...
token/play money/counter is my guess...
back then the intrinsic value of coins generally was close to face... 0.8 grams of copper was almost nothing... a mid 19th century farthing weighed almost 3 grams; there were 4 farthings to the British penny...
10-23-2022 07:25 AM - edited 10-23-2022 07:26 AM
I can't identify it, but the wreath of laurel and oak leaves is a common design on the reverse of civil war tokens. They usually have "NOT ONE CENT" on them. As you may know, the penny is a British denomination, although we often call cents pennies.
Thanks for sharing it.
10-23-2022 09:03 AM
It's much much smaller and thin than war tokens. My guess will be that was used in one of the British Commonwealth territories, maybe British India?
10-23-2022 09:06 AM
That's a curious one. Even assuming it's a mule, using two reverse dies, I don't ever remember seeing a token that small with a penny denomination. They are usually the size of the old English pennies. Only thing I can think of might be an island in the Caribbean, where they used a mixture of English, Spanish and American denominations.
10-23-2022 09:08 AM
Another possibility is a piece of play money. But it seems too well made for that.
10-23-2022 01:33 PM
Play money is what Heron thought about when first viewing the 1 Penny token. Heron cannot remember ever seeing this particular design of token. Perhaps it WAS used in the Caribbean area. Maybe a saloon token? Or souvenir item? It is a neat 1 Penny token.
10-23-2022 06:43 PM
diameter? weight? thickness?
10-24-2022 01:08 AM
It was in small print at top of 1st photo:
Found this piece inside one old wooden box. 10 mm diameter, 0.8 grams, copper, Double Sided "One Penny"
10-24-2022 03:11 AM
@b-17blinker wrote:It was in small print at top of 1st photo:
glasses? sheesh...
10-24-2022 05:07 AM
Looks like a legit coin/token and my guess is that is around 1860. In that box where I've found this piece were other very old British Coins (Commonwealth). I have some nice early tokens (British) but hard for me to believe somebody would struck in that condition a play token. Do you think it can be an essay?
10-24-2022 06:12 AM
diameter 10 mm, 0,8 grams, thickness 0.7 mm
10-24-2022 03:39 PM - edited 10-24-2022 03:39 PM
@balkania05 wrote:Do you think it can be an essay?
an essai? no...
token/play money/counter is my guess...
back then the intrinsic value of coins generally was close to face... 0.8 grams of copper was almost nothing... a mid 19th century farthing weighed almost 3 grams; there were 4 farthings to the British penny...
10-24-2022 04:51 PM
The token stating 1 Penny is only 10mm dia. Heron agrees that this light weight item is probably not a coin. If this token was minted in the 18th Century or early 19th Century it would not be close to the actual weight of a 1 penny coin. An English Royal 1 Penny copper coin dated 1807 weighs 18.9 grams. In addition, the genuine English 1 Penny is about 34mm in diameter (information per Numista). Heron actually has a few of these 1807 English Pennies but none as nice as the one now depicted on the Numista site). The laurel wreath design is familiar to Heron. A coin dated 1828 is on Heron's desk at this moment and the laurel wreath design is close. A fairly common coin & token wreath design in the 18th and 19th centuries. In addition to the possibility of this item being a 'gaming' item or a 'counter' it could be an educational item. These were sometimes used to teach young folks how to recognize the denomination '1 Penny'.
Well, whatever it is, the token 1 Penny is an interesting item and conversation piece. And it got some of us to think about such items.
10-25-2022 12:42 PM
19th c. spielmarke. Found this on eBay's UK site. Looks like theres a Half Penny with this same design as wel.
10-25-2022 02:15 PM
Thank you very much for the information. It is appreciated! Play money is interesting.