Two nice newps, one a ship...

Daltonista

Happy November!
These both arrived since Thursday from different sources, and it turns
out both are pretty nice additions to my Davis/Withers collection.
I think anyone who goes after these early 19th-century tokens would
agree that most of them are very hard to find in conditions you'd be
proud of....even Paul & Bente Withers confirm that in the introductory
chapter of their catalog. Anyway, let me know what you think,
especially about the weird diecutting highlighted in the last photo.
What could have caused that?
Best to all ~
Tom

JCMhouston

Very attractive, particlularly the ship.

AZLARRY

Nice looking tokens, I especially like the 1812 Weybride Mills one.

rwyarmch

Wow, they're both beauts!

1960NYGiants

Nice tokens. Tell us more about them.

The ship token - 1 pint ~ on board or on shore?

Weybridge ~ notice the H is upside down comparing "warehouse" and "wharf". Pretty cool.

BCNumismatics

Tom,
I'm not aware of any traders' currency tokens denominated in Pints.

That Weybridge Mills 1d. trader's currency token is very interesting,especially the reverse,which looks like it has been struck with very worn dies.

Aidan.

oldshep

Ah,, What's not to like with a cool ship on it.

Shep

Daltonista

Okay, Gene, as long as you asked!

The first one, the Pint, was issued by William Buck, Jr., who ran the Anchor House, a quayside tavern in Morston, Norfolk. Mr. Buck also owned the Cruizer, which was registered in Yarmouth and first appeared in Lloyd's Register of Shipping in 1818, so the presumption is that he was commemorating with this token the launching of his new venture, the 87-ton Cruizer.

The Pint is very rare, unlisted in Davis, and added in Withers as one of two "Associated Items" in Appendix I. The last two auctions of this piece I could find on the Net comprised a fairly grisly-looking pitted nVF that brought 120 pounds at London Coins in September of this year, and an aEF that sold at 340 pounds a year earlier at Baldwin's. Got mine, which looks to be a pretty stunning unc, by "private treaty" from a notable West Coast exonumia dealer...will be glad to share his name and contact info with any forum members who PM me. I know (well, as of a week ago) he has at least one other example of this very token, albeit in a condition he would doubtless describe as a less untroubled unc than this one.

I agree with Shep and JCM that this is really a lovely ship, but what I like best are the waves! Or chop, I guess you could call it. The token is the size of a penny, so that must be about what a pint of ale cost in 1817. Born too late!

The Weybridge Mills penny was issued by I. Bunn & Co. of Surrey and lists as Davis 5 and Withers 1200. All anyone seems to know about them is what we're told on the token itself, which is that the Mills manufactured "hoops and iron." Citing a contemporary source (Sharp), Withers suggests the dies were engraved by P. Wyon and could have been struck by Thomason. Interestingly, the plate token in Withers has the same loopy diesinking around the word "warehouse" that mine shows. (Well, with ale at a penny a pint, it's a wonder anything got done!) This is a pretty common piece, but in 25 years of chasing after this sort of material I've never seen one this good-lookin'. Found it on the Bay!

Best to all ~
Tom