"Pill-Poppin' Sam, Before the Big Binge"
lordmarcovan
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"Pill-Poppin' Sam, Before the Big Binge"
1773 love token on British King George III halfpenny
Larger obverse image
Larger reverse 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
Larger obverse image
Larger reverse 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
0
Comments
(I'm not bidding, because of the button shank on the back of that one, but it's still a cool pictorial.)
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I love these posts, they not only add interest to the coins and tokens, they also bring to our attention people who have long been forgotten. I wonder if our Sam Jessop has had his name uttered in the last 100 years?
Thanks.
Considering the infamous nature of the case and the fact it has been retold on a few blogs, Sam Jessop has not been relegated to complete obscurity, it seems. So if his name hasn't been spoken aloud (well, I just did), then he's certainly got his own little piece of cyberspace.
I suspect he'd rather have been immortalized for other things.
RIP, Sam Jessop. May you be in a better place now, well beyond any regret for this earthly vale of tears.
I think out of your entire Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set - my favorite engraving is the pineapple on a pedestal on a beach.
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Researching these old coins and medals can produce some surprising results.
Is it possible that Sam gave the coin to a girlfriend to remember him?
Or to an apothecary?
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