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~ LM Oddball set/love token newp thread drafts
lordmarcovan
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"Pill-Poppin' Sam, Before the Big Binge"
1773 love token on British King George III halfpenny
Slightly larger image
Host coin: British KM-601 halfpenny of George III (ca. 1770-1773).
Obverse: original design with bust of George III right, unaltered.
Reverse: hand-engraved inscription "Sam / Jessop / 1773" within wreath, with flourishes and ornamental border.
I've long liked these 18th century copper love tokens, but because I'm not alone in that regard, prices on them seem to have gotten a bit stiffer and have mostly risen into low 3-figure territory these days. I had this one in my eBay watch list for a good while, and when the seller reduced the price by about 40% (to just a hair over $50), I pounced.
I would have been happy with it at that price, but as has happened a few times before, when I got around to doing a little research, I found an interesting backstory to the coin which made it even more valuable to me.
The seller had described the name on this piece as "Pam Jefson", which is an understandable mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. It clearly says "Sam", and when one takes the old-style long S into account, it is plain that the name is Sam Jessop.
And that is where the story gets intriguing, for there was a Samuel Jessop of Heckington, Lincolnshire, England (b. ca. 1753, d. 1817) who was the subject of several contemporary press reports. It seems he got himself into some legal trouble, as he was a hypochondriac and a drug addict with prodigious appetites, whose incredibly excessive pill-popping got him into serious money trouble. He ran up a bill of 787 pounds, 18 shillings, which was a truly staggering amount of money at the time- the equivalent of many tens of thousands of dollars today-all to feed his habit! So societal ills like "prescription drug abuse" are nothing new.
They were hard on debtors in those days, so perhaps Sam was lucky that his case was settled for 450 pounds, which was still a fortune. He died only two months after the verdict, in May 1817, aged 64 (or 65, by some sources). The case was widely reported in the press, and revisited many times in the 19th century and even as late as 1905, no doubt due to its sensational aspects. By the later accounts, his name had morphed into "Jessup", but contemporary accounts spell it "Jessop", just as it is on this coin.
Of course it's entirely possible that there was more than one "Sam Jessop" in England in the late 18th century, but given that the general time period, place, and name fit, I'd say there is a good chance this love token was once owned by the infamous pill popper in his younger, healthier days. Samuel Jessop would have been about twenty years old in 1773 when the engraving was done on the reverse of this coin. Was it a gift from a sweetheart in his youth? If so, one wonders what happened, since he was described as a "bachelor of opulence" at the time of the trial in 1817. Did he never marry? Was he widowed? Who gave him the love token? Was it still in his possession as a keepsake as he neared his tragic, sordid end? We'll never know all these answers, but I think you'll agree with me that the backstory makes this love token all the more fascinating.
The New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 7, 1817 (source of quote in image above)
The Cabinet of Curiosities, 1824 (somewhat longer article)
"The Pill Devourer" (modern British Library "Untold Lives" blog entry)
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
1773 love token on British King George III halfpenny
Slightly larger image
Host coin: British KM-601 halfpenny of George III (ca. 1770-1773).
Obverse: original design with bust of George III right, unaltered.
Reverse: hand-engraved inscription "Sam / Jessop / 1773" within wreath, with flourishes and ornamental border.
I've long liked these 18th century copper love tokens, but because I'm not alone in that regard, prices on them seem to have gotten a bit stiffer and have mostly risen into low 3-figure territory these days. I had this one in my eBay watch list for a good while, and when the seller reduced the price by about 40% (to just a hair over $50), I pounced.
I would have been happy with it at that price, but as has happened a few times before, when I got around to doing a little research, I found an interesting backstory to the coin which made it even more valuable to me.
The seller had described the name on this piece as "Pam Jefson", which is an understandable mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. It clearly says "Sam", and when one takes the old-style long S into account, it is plain that the name is Sam Jessop.
And that is where the story gets intriguing, for there was a Samuel Jessop of Heckington, Lincolnshire, England (b. ca. 1753, d. 1817) who was the subject of several contemporary press reports. It seems he got himself into some legal trouble, as he was a hypochondriac and a drug addict with prodigious appetites, whose incredibly excessive pill-popping got him into serious money trouble. He ran up a bill of 787 pounds, 18 shillings, which was a truly staggering amount of money at the time- the equivalent of many tens of thousands of dollars today-all to feed his habit! So societal ills like "prescription drug abuse" are nothing new.
They were hard on debtors in those days, so perhaps Sam was lucky that his case was settled for 450 pounds, which was still a fortune. He died only two months after the verdict, in May 1817, aged 64 (or 65, by some sources). The case was widely reported in the press, and revisited many times in the 19th century and even as late as 1905, no doubt due to its sensational aspects. By the later accounts, his name had morphed into "Jessup", but contemporary accounts spell it "Jessop", just as it is on this coin.
Of course it's entirely possible that there was more than one "Sam Jessop" in England in the late 18th century, but given that the general time period, place, and name fit, I'd say there is a good chance this love token was once owned by the infamous pill popper in his younger, healthier days. Samuel Jessop would have been about twenty years old in 1773 when the engraving was done on the reverse of this coin. Was it a gift from a sweetheart in his youth? If so, one wonders what happened, since he was described as a "bachelor of opulence" at the time of the trial in 1817. Did he never marry? Was he widowed? Who gave him the love token? Was it still in his possession as a keepsake as he neared his tragic, sordid end? We'll never know all these answers, but I think you'll agree with me that the backstory makes this love token all the more fascinating.
The New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 7, 1817 (source of quote in image above)
The Cabinet of Curiosities, 1824 (somewhat longer article)
"The Pill Devourer" (modern British Library "Untold Lives" blog entry)
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
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Pictorial love token on 1851 silver three-cent piece
Larger obverse image
Larger reverse image
Host coin: 1851 silver three-cent piece. Obverse: original six-pointed star design, unaltered. Reverse: planed off and re-engraved with image of a chicken (probably a rooster) left, with grass/foliage below, surrounded by simple lined border. Ex-"palmislandcoinsandcurrency" (eBay), 07/09/2016.
This is a relatively simple but quite well-executed pictorial love token. It was desirable enough in that right, but since it is also on a slightly less common host coin I found it all the more desirable. As the silver three-cent piece or "trime" was the United States' smallest silver coin, they had to be a bit more difficult for engraving artists to work on. The artist here did a good job and obviously had some experience. Additionally, the 1851 date on the host coin was the first year for this type.
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
Fraternal lodge token on 1857 Seated Liberty quarter
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Larger reverse image
Host coin: 1857 Seated Liberty quarter. Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered. Reverse: planed off and re-engraved with a fasces supported by three sets of double columns, all-seeing eye above, Odd Fellows symbol (three conjoined links) below. Ex-"realap13" (eBay), 07/08/2016.
This is a neat fraternal organization token. While I'm mostly unfamiliar with the "temple" (column and fasces) elements, the triple links below are obviously the symbol of the Odd Fellows organization: "Amicitia Amor et Veritas" ("Friendship, Love, and Truth"), and I've seen that all-seeing eye in some of their other iconography. Interestingly, the artist who engraved of the reverse did not choose to orient his engraving in relation to the obverse of the host coin, but chose a seemingly more random rotation- note the hole position. I like this piece but am not a fan of the somewhat scuzzy obverse toning, so I may attempt a localized cleaning on that side while leaving the reverse alone. Then I'll need to reimage this later. (Really, as of this typing, my entire "Oddball" collection is in need of proper imaging, as thus far I've just recycled the previous sellers' pictures.)
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
Civil War military-themed engraving on 1864 Seated Liberty half dollar
Obviously a Civil War military themed engraving.
Note the fort-shaped frame. The central motif is a bridge over a river, with forest beyond. Given the 1864 half dollar host coin, I'm thinking this is probably some Virginia locale near the end of the war. Maybe the Wilderness campaign? The landscape certainly seems to fit. Of course it bears further research.
Yes, the broken pinback residue is unfortunate, but if it had an intact pinback, I might not have bought it because those just don't fit well in my album pages. Broken pinbacks are worse, but in this case I overlooked the old solder and mounting damage because the engraving was so interesting.
The seller had "dirtdigger" in her email address, so I half wonder if this isn't a dug piece. Am trying to find out.
Risqué alteration on reverse of 1852 Braided Hair large cent
Obverse-reverse image (*WARNING*-uncensored)
Larger obverse image
Larger reverse image (*WARNING*-uncensored)
Host coin: 1857 Braided Hair large cent.
Obverse: unaltered.
Reverse: risqué alteration of "E" in "CENT" to a "U"; engraving incomplete.
Provenance: ex-"lotsofmotts", eBay, 7/22/2016.
Commentary: It might have been the early Victorian era, but there was no shortage of raunch around. These "naughty" cent alterations were quite the cottage industry and are common enough today that you could probably complete a date set of Braided Hair cents with these risqué reverses. Maybe even a good bit of the middle-date Coronet cents, too.
This particular example has a better than average host coin but somewhat poorer than average (perhaps incomplete) carving. The incomplete nature of the carving on this one sort of goes to show how they did these, however. I'm not sure if that's a hit (PMD) or a planchet flaw or strikethrough in the obverse field. Either way, it kind of adds character.
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set