26
September 2026
Next club meeting Monday 5th October 2026.
Will feature a talk by Arthur Sotterley on Medals
and Numismatics
Meetings are held
at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.
Notices:
We have several members who are receiving treatment for various serious
conditions – Peter (our President), Michael and Graham. The club gives its best
wishes to them, and hopes for speedy recovery and
looks forward to seeing them again in due course at future meetings.
As ever the club committee also needs members. Please consider joining, as it
is not fair to leave the running of the club to the same small number of
members every year. If you are willing to
become a member of the committee, please notify one of the current committee,
members namely Henry, Tony or Jawaid or our VP John.
Membership cards are available from the Club Secretary
at the meeting for those who are paid up for the year 2026-2027.
September Meeting
At our meeting on the 7th
September the club was delighted to welcome back Tim Millett as the speaker for
the evening. Back in October 2024 Tim had given us an entertaining talk on
tokens of Love, Loss and Disrespect, and on that occasion had talked largely on
19th century tokens. This time Tim’s talk focussed on earlier
tokens, mainly of the 18th century.
He introduced his talk with some thoughts
on the origins of such tokens, and felt that in the
main they tended to be produced by the less affluent in society, and many
tokens were created on small silver coins of the period. Tim then showed a
slide of the front page of a 1936 edition of The Bazaar Exchange & Mart
paper, which had an extensive headline article on “Medallions Made by Gaol-Birds” and subtitled “Love and Prison Tokens”. Such
tokens could be purchased for very modest sums in 1936, and
were felt to be the subject of niche and eccentric collections.
Production of these tokens was a common
activity in Georgian times both in society generally and often in gaols and
portrayed a range of subjects, such as marriages, transportation and
executions. The first token displayed was a marriage token from the year 1789
which portrayed the happy couple on the obverse with flowers and an inscription
on the reverse encouraging industry and fidelity, and was holed, probably for
suspension from a ribbon or chain.
Tim then focussed on Hogarth’s engraving
of the execution at Tyburn of the Idle Apprentice and especially on the
broadside pamphlets sold in large as souvenirs at executions as an example of
the interest in felons displayed in late Georgian times. Many tokens of the
period capitalise on this interest.
Transportation was a frequent alternative
punishment to execution and many convicted criminals
were transported to America until 1776, and thereafter to the new found territory of Australia. Many prison and convict
tokens of these times were on half-pennies, and often they showed in acts of
defiance the bravado of the felons. Tim then showed several of such tokens.
. 
Tokens of Robert Allen and Willian Hurt and a generalised symbol of felon’s bravado are shown
above. Allen is depicted as enjoying life in prison, smoking and drinking, but
despite wearing leg irons! Hurt’s token shows him at work as a highwayman. It
is thought the Allen and Hunt tokens are by the same engraver. The crossed
pistols, swords and skeleton keys depict the tools of their trades, but the
example above is a better version of their reverses.
Robert Allen was convicted of breaking and
entering and the theft of a large sum of money, and Hurt arrested as an
accomplice to a highway robbery, caught after a chase on horseback at Seven
Sisters near London. Both were hanged. These condemned men, among others, were
treated as celebrities for the days of their execution.
Another example of bravado by a felon is
this token of Pearce Chambers 1776, again a jolly picture until you note the
leg irons!
Transportation to the Americas ceased in
1776, and for the next twelve years confinement of felons was centred on prison
hulks. The year 1788 saw the first fleet of prisoners sent to Australia, both
as convicts and convict settlers. Generally, transportation was for Life, 14
years or 7 years. By the turn of the 19th century cartwheel coins
were used for token production as they could be easily turned
into blanks for engraving. Some examples
of these later-style of tokens are shown below.
The initials TB and JB refer to his
children Thomas and Jane
The obverse of the token is above and
depicts his wife, Mahala.
The soft copper metal allowed pin
engraving
which permitted more detail to be depicted
and with greater accuracy. The token to the left is from Daniel Bates, a petty
thief sentenced to 7 years transportation
A similar token is that to M A Whitlock (see below). Mary Ann Whitlock from Norwich, was
convicted of vagrancy and drunkenness, and the theft of 2s 6d. Aged 22 years, she was sentenced to 14 years
transportation. Her story was quite a sad one.
Tim also showed a similar but far more
intricate copper token, but that is so busy that a photograph here would not do
it justice. The spelling also on this token is completely awry.
Moving on Tim showed some examples of both
pin engraving on silver and of the work of a professional engraver (possibly
also a prisoner) also on silver.
William Thompson had been caught stealing
linen sheets. Palmer & Barrs may have been machine breakers.
Tim finished his talk with the story of
Michael Gibbs, the former Mayor of London, 1845, and of course Gibbs’s ivory handled gavel.
The club members heartily applauded Tim
for his informative and entertaining talk.
Future Events.
London
Coin Fair – Shortlands, London, W6 –7th November 2026
Midland
Coin Fair – National Motorcycle Museum - 11th October 2026
Noonans, Mayfair, W1J 8BQ – 7th
and 20th & 21st October 2026
Morton & Eden – October 2026
St James Auctions – 27th October
Warwick & Warwick –21st October 2026
Past
Events
• 10 years ago – A talk by James
Mather, the metal detectorist who found the Watlington Hoard.
• 20 years ago – Phillip Mernick gave a
talk on Early Jetons
• 30 years ago - Dave Mc Gurk spoke to
us on “An Introduction to Chinese Coins”
• 50 years ago – Patrick Finn spoke to
us on “Irish Coins to James I”
Club Secretary
