What is a Conder token?
Russ
Posts: 48,514 ✭✭✭
I was cruising around eBay looking at Hard Times tokens and came across this:
I thought it looked pretty cool, so I laid in a snipe on it, but got outbid by proxy. It was listed as a "Conder" token. Got to looking around some more, and there were all kinds of different varieties listed. Most seemed pretty cheap, and it seemed that most were from the late 18th century.
What are these things?
Russ, NCNE
I thought it looked pretty cool, so I laid in a snipe on it, but got outbid by proxy. It was listed as a "Conder" token. Got to looking around some more, and there were all kinds of different varieties listed. Most seemed pretty cheap, and it seemed that most were from the late 18th century.
What are these things?
Russ, NCNE
0
Comments
"Officially, correctly and properly they are collectively referred to as "Provincial Token Coinage of the Eighteenth Century". This was pretty much established by James Conder who wrote the first book on these back in 1798."
New collectors, please educate yourself before spending money on coins; there are people who believe that using numismatic knowledge to rip the naïve is what this hobby is all about.
GREAT site! Thanks!
<< <i>There are some 7,000 listings in the Conder "bible", Dalton and Hamer's book entitled "The Provincial Token Coinage Of the 18th Century". These coins come in gold, silver, copper, tin, lead, brass, mystery white metal, etc. >>
WOW! Talk about an area one could spend a lifetime in!
Russ, NCNE
I hope nothing illegal
Our very own Conder101 used to be in the society, and knows lots about them. Give him a PM.
and it sets us apart from practitioners and consultants. Gregor
Be glad you didn't get that token Russ. It was mis-attributed. It is not the Scarce D&H 33 that the seller says it is, it's the much more common D&H 34 and it that condition worth maybe $8. If it had been the 33 I would have been bidding on it at a considerably higher level. (Mintage for 33 & 34 combined was about 42,000. Probably 35 to 40 thousand of those were #34.)
The linked article by Gary Sriro is an excellant primer and I will only add a few comments to it. (Gary is very knowledgeable on the subject and is one of the better sellers of Conders on eBay.)
As stated in the article the government felt that only gold and silver should be coined as lowly copper coinage was beneath their dignity. So the last regal copper coinage was produced in 1775 and no further copper coins were struck until the cartwheel pennies and two pence were struck by Matthew Bolton in 1797. (Coinages of low value silver were also small as well.) So the smallest coins being produced during that period was the six pence, about a half a weeks wages for an unskilled laborer. Imagine our society today if for a period of 22 years the government produced nothing smaller than a $100 bill and you can get some idea of the difficulties faced by the citizens of the time. Due the shortage of coins often an employer would group several employees together and give them a one pound note as pay for all of them. Remember at this time very few people would have bank accounts and checks were virtually unknown. Society opperated on a cash basis.
The first solution was the production of contemporary counterfeit halfpence. This was done because counterfeiting coppers was not considered a serious crime! Production of the coppers was a misdomeaner offense and passing them was perfectly legal! Eventually though the laws were tightened macking the production of counterfeits a treasonable offense. But the law specified that counterfeits were coins that were exact copies of the regal coins. This left a loophole in the law. If the coiner changed the devices or the legend then it was no longer a "exact copy" and was once again legal. This ushered in the production of evasion pieces or Evasives. The Evasives and the counterfeit half pence continued to circulate basicly because the people had little choice they needed something to use in commerce and these filled the bill. But since these pieces were light weight, even lower than the regal standard coins which were also light, they were not popular with consumers and merchants often received them at a discount. By the time the first of what would come to be known a Conder Tokens were struck over 75% of all of the coppers in circulation were low weight counterfeits and evasives. Naturally when the first tokens from the Paris Mines in Angelsey turned up they were welcomed with open arms. These pennies and halfpence were well designed full weight coins struck on the new steam presses. As more and more such tokens entered commerce they, for once, reversed Greshams Law and the good money drove out the bad as the light weight pieces were severely discounted. As more and more merchants issue tokens the weights began to fall a little but still stayed for the most part above or at the regal standard. Along with the two items mentioned by Gary of getting in people redeeming tokens and the advertising provided by the token, the merchants realized they had another advantage. Even at the regal standard of 48 to the pound the tokens cost less than their face value to produce. Every token issued that did NOT come back therefor produced an extra profit for the bottom line. For this reason anonymous or general circulation tokens began to appear that no longer have a merchants name or place of redemption listed on either the faces or the edge. If you didn't know where it was from. And of course some merchants were so well known and respected that their tokens were accepted anywhere, This left those token open to being counterfeited just as the regal halfpence had been but with the additional safety that counterfeiting them wasn't illegal. There are MANY varieties of contemporary counterfeits listed in Dalton & Hamer.
After the cartwheel coins were produced he needs of commerce were pretty well satified and production of tokens dropped to almost nothing after 1797. With two exceptions there are no tokens listed In D & H dated later than 1800. Great Britain suffered another coin shortage from 1811 to about 1820 and tokens were produced during that period as well but they are NOT considered to be Conder tokens even though you will often see them erroneously advertised as such.
One common misconception to clear up is that James Conder wrote the first book cataloging these tokens. This is not true. Earlier catalogs had appear in 1795 but Conder's 1798 book was much more through and it became the standard reference until Atkins was published in 1890. that is why they are known as Conder tokens. And that name is the common name only here in the US. In England they are almost always still referred to as 18th century provincials coins. Also the 7,000 variety figure that Gary listed for all of the D&H listings is a bit inflated. A more reasonable estimite is around 5,600. The largest collection sold recently was the Jim Noble collection sold in 1998 that had over 3,000 varieties. The finest collection is that of Jerry and Sharon Bobbe. At the 2001 ANA convention they had an exhibit that contained over 500 varieties all Mint Red. There collection is over 2,500 varieties all MS. The most complete set is that owned by Robbie Brown (Only person to complete the Sheldon Large cent varieties TWICE!, to within one variety of a complete set of middle date large cents twice, to within 5 varieties of a complete set of late date large cents twice, and to within five varieties of a complete variety set of bust halves.) His Conder set is over 4,600 varieties.
Russ, NCNE