The King's Evil: Coins and tuberculosis
Nap
Posts: 1,734 ✭✭✭✭✭
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease that is well known to history. While it is greatly in decline in modern times, it's still out there, and it is estimated that about a third of the world's population has been exposed to the bacteria that causes pulmonary tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is one of those rare infections that can affect nearly every organ in the body, but it usually involves the lungs.
Tuberculosis, the "consumption," is a prominent character in 19th century romantic literature. The list of famous people in history who died from tuberculosis could fill volumes of books. While TB is uncommonly communicated person to person in the United States, it is very common in many countries in the world. It still causes severe disease in people who travel to endemic areas, people who have AIDS, and people who are started on immune system-lowering medications (like for cancer or rheumatoid arthritis).
There are drugs that treat TB, which have made this a curable disease. I happen to be an infectious disease physician, and I frequently treat people who have or have been exposed to TB, thus this subject is of considerable interest to me.
Now, the coin tie-in:
Besides the lungs, TB can affect the lymph nodes, especially those in the neck. This condition, known today as scrofula, is less dangerous than TB of the lungs, but causes considerable distress as it appears as large nodular masses in the neck, which sometimes drain pus and are fairly disfiguring. It is most common in children. In medieval England, it was called "The King's Evil." The superstitious people of the time believed that the touch of the king could actually cure this disease, and the Stuart notion of regal divinity only supported this idea. This led to the creation of a "touching ceremony." People who had scrofula would line up on certain days, and the king would touch them and give them a medal. The medal was a gold "angel" coin, worth 10 shillings, which was holed for wearing on a ribbon. This ceremony was extremely popular during the times of James I, Charles I, and Charles II. It continued through the reign of Queen Anne, after which it fell out of favor. The belief that there was merit to this was reinforced by the fact that it is not uncommon for scrofula to go into remission on its own, and people would get better.
The most famous person to be given the "Royal Touch" was the writer Samuel Johnson, whose coin was kept by his descendants and is now a highlight in the British Museum.
Here is my angel coin of Charles I, pierced for the Royal Touch ceremony:
The condition is somewhat poor, but the obverse depicts St. Michael spearing a dragon. The intentional hole is through the head of the dragon, which may have been intentional. The reverse depicts a ship.
I picked this up as it was at the intersection of my life interests.
Tuberculosis, the "consumption," is a prominent character in 19th century romantic literature. The list of famous people in history who died from tuberculosis could fill volumes of books. While TB is uncommonly communicated person to person in the United States, it is very common in many countries in the world. It still causes severe disease in people who travel to endemic areas, people who have AIDS, and people who are started on immune system-lowering medications (like for cancer or rheumatoid arthritis).
There are drugs that treat TB, which have made this a curable disease. I happen to be an infectious disease physician, and I frequently treat people who have or have been exposed to TB, thus this subject is of considerable interest to me.
Now, the coin tie-in:
Besides the lungs, TB can affect the lymph nodes, especially those in the neck. This condition, known today as scrofula, is less dangerous than TB of the lungs, but causes considerable distress as it appears as large nodular masses in the neck, which sometimes drain pus and are fairly disfiguring. It is most common in children. In medieval England, it was called "The King's Evil." The superstitious people of the time believed that the touch of the king could actually cure this disease, and the Stuart notion of regal divinity only supported this idea. This led to the creation of a "touching ceremony." People who had scrofula would line up on certain days, and the king would touch them and give them a medal. The medal was a gold "angel" coin, worth 10 shillings, which was holed for wearing on a ribbon. This ceremony was extremely popular during the times of James I, Charles I, and Charles II. It continued through the reign of Queen Anne, after which it fell out of favor. The belief that there was merit to this was reinforced by the fact that it is not uncommon for scrofula to go into remission on its own, and people would get better.
The most famous person to be given the "Royal Touch" was the writer Samuel Johnson, whose coin was kept by his descendants and is now a highlight in the British Museum.
Here is my angel coin of Charles I, pierced for the Royal Touch ceremony:
The condition is somewhat poor, but the obverse depicts St. Michael spearing a dragon. The intentional hole is through the head of the dragon, which may have been intentional. The reverse depicts a ship.
I picked this up as it was at the intersection of my life interests.
0
Comments
Cathy
Edited for thumb typing on my phone errors.
How rare are these coins? Are they hard to find?
<< <i> I happen to be an infectious disease physician, and I frequently treat people who have or have been exposed to TB, thus this subject is of considerable interest to me.
I picked this up as it was at the intersection of my life interests. >>
I guess it intersects my life too as I have a positive TB skin test. I work in medicine and I got it from being coughed on by an undiagnosed active TB pt. At that time the protocol was INH for one year. Didn't they cut that down to one month now?
I am curious what the coin weighs and how much weight it has lost due to wear and the hole.
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television
<< <i>That is a very interesting history, and the type of holed coin that is worthy. Do you collect medals? In my quest for maternity/maternal themes I have incidentally noticed several TB themed ones.
Cathy
>>
I don't typically collect medals. I have far too many (numismatic) interests as is, so I try not to diversify too much. There are many medical themed medals but I have so far resisted the urge to collect them.
<< <i>
Cool story and coin. I had never heard of this before. It's always fun to learn something new.
How rare are these coins? Are they hard to find?
>>
They are by no means common but they are also not exceedingly rare. The most commonly found touch piece is of Charles II, and there were >100,000 coined I believe. Survival is relatively good for these coins because they were saved as keepsakes. Touch pieces of James I, Charles I, and Anne are far less common. Technically, the angel touch pieces of Charles II and later were not coins, but rather medals, and carried no monetary value (but were worth their gold). The angels of James I and Charles I were actually made as coins, with a value of 10 shillings, and later pierced. Several examples that exist are not holed, indicating they may have been issued for circulation as well.
<< <i>
I guess it intersects my life too as I have a positive TB skin test. I work in medicine and I got it from being coughed on by an undiagnosed active TB pt. At that time the protocol was INH for one year. Didn't they cut that down to one month now?
>>
Standard treatment is still 9 months of INH.
<< <i>
I am curious what the coin weighs and how much weight it has lost due to wear and the hole.
>>
I haven't weighed it, I can't find my scale since I moved. The seller claimed weight as 3.78g. I think the original weight was over 4g
The Sovereign Remedy: Touch Pieces and the King's Evil (Part I)
Part II
The Tower Gold of Charles I
We'll use our hands and hearts and if we must we'll use our heads.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
<< <i>Great info, do you know where Samuel Johnson's coin is displayed in the British Museum? Is not in the money area. >>
I haven't been there in some time. Not sure where it's physically located.
Here is the museum's write-up about it
The coin itself unfortunately looks like it's been cleaned. But it is famous for its historical connection rather than its condition.
<< <i>I am curious what the coin weighs and how much weight it has lost due to wear and the hole.
The number quoted later is 3.78g which is slightly on the light side, but it is well worn. The 14 touchpieces of Charles I in the Brooker collection weighed from 3.79g - 4.13g (average weight 3.98g). The two unpierced angels weighed 4.15g and 4.17g.
As there was £12500 of fine gold struck, all of which would have been angels, it follows that a total of 25000 angels were struck during the reign for all marks. A feature of these angels is the number of marks that a single die was used for in several instances. This is indicative of the low mintage of angels - the dies almost never wore out.
As a piece which was used by the owner to hold and pray for good health, touchpieces are one area where the level of wear is not detrimental to the quality of a collection. A worn touchpiece has been used as the tool it was intended to be.
Here is one of the Brooker coins (6), weight 3.90g, with the Bell mark, over portcullis over harp on the reverse. Ex Lockett & Carlyon-Britton.
[/URL]">Text
[URL=http://s935.photobucket.com/user/RPCOINS/media/005-3_zpsb3ca75b2.jpg.html]
Syfilis, Arthritis , Lepra , Psoriasis to name a few.
Thanks for sharing NAP
My YouTube Channel