English 19th. Century silver currency tokens.

[BCNumismatics]

Check out the photos of these coins;

Birmingham Workhouse 1811 1/-.

Hampshire 1811 1/-.

Shaftesbury Bank 1811 1/-.

Worcester 1811 1/-.

Please let me know what you think.

Aidan.

[Deagle74]

Nice silver shillings Aidan - here is one of mine from Newark



Rok

Edited to add:
"In 1811 silver tokens were issued at Newark, value is.
There are four varieties of these. Probably the issuing of
these pieces by a number of tradesmen was done in order
to share the cost of the die and to procure a quantity of
tokens at a cheaper rate, and also to inspire confidence.

Obverse. A view of the Town Hall with inscription
" Town Hall, 1811." Newark silver token
for one shilling.

Reverse. The current value payable in cash notes. T.
Stansall, Cha s Moore, Rich<* Fisher, W m
Fillingham, W m Readitt, and T. Wilson.
(No. 45.)

Thomas Stansall was a grocer, Charles Moore a chemist,
Richard Fisher and William Fillingham drapers, William
Readitt a grocer, Thomas Wilson a brazier.

Sir Edward Thomason, in his Memoirs, states :

"The copper and silver change became so extremely scarce that the
demand for the manufacture of tokens to enable the masters to pay their
workmen their weekly wage was so great that I had endless applications
for both. I manufactured during this year silver and copper tokens for
Wales, Brecon, Gainsborough, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and for many different
establishments. In 1811 I manufactured above two million copper tokens
for Samuel Fereday, the great ironmaster, who employed 5000 people."

[BCNumismatics]

Rok,
  That's a very nice 1/- from Newark that you have got there.

I have got a 1 Penny as my only currency token from Newark.

English silver currency tokens are very hard to find.

It has been a few years since I last found silver ones.

Aidan.

[coinsarefun]

Nice silver shillings Aidan - here is on of mine from Newark



Rok

Dbl.

[mmarotta]

Not "English" though with the English king.
Ireland Bank Token 1813
S 6618; Craig 9; KM Tn5

[Deagle74]

If somebody is interested - two links related to this subject:

http://www.tokensociety.org.uk/topics/silver19.shtml

and bit longer reading but very informative:

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:gERY0WcXT7gJ:www.archive.org/stream/silvertokencoina00daltiala/silvertokencoina00daltiala_djvu.txt+1811+silver+shillings+tokens&cd=2&hl=sl&ct=clnk&gl=si

[BCNumismatics]

Not "English" though with the English king.
Ireland Bank Token 1813
S 6618; Craig 9; KM Tn5

Mike,
  That's a very nice Irish 10d. that you have got there.

That type is one that eludes me.

As both the British 1/6 & 3/-,plus the Irish 5d.,10d.,30d.,& 6/- are listed in Krause,they are actually regarded as being coins.

Aidan.

[mmarotta]

Thanks for the links, deagle74, I followed them and archived them for myself.  (I printed out the title page of the book and wrote the URL on it.)  The Token Society article was succinct, but I have to quibble with their editorializing.

These tokens are typically of fine silver, but are light weight according to the standards of the time; 5 shillings and 2 pence coins per ounce of fine silver.  But it was these standards that had prevented the mint from issuing coins, as they could not afford the silver at market prices and then issue coins only for them to be melted immediately by the unscrupulous.  ...  in 1813, by which the problems of an unregulated token coinage had appeared, with counterfeiting, reduced silver quality, reduced weight and some issuers refusing to redeem their tokens. 

Just to say that I got into numismatics because of the works of Ayn Rand and the Austrian economists.  Most of my peers endorse "Francisco's Money Speech" (see here).  I mention that because the market price of silver was not truly the impediement, but that the silver coins of the Crown were tariffed in money of account, rather than merely being metal, which, in fact the gold sovereign was, much to its credit.  Moreover, people who melt coins for a profit are not unscrupulous: they are realistic.  Finally, defaults are the risks which always attends any promises.  When banks fail we call them "wildcats" but we do not apply the same term to grocers and pharmacists who fail.  Failure is a risk in business.  As the great capitalist of insurance, Caldecott Chubb expressed it: "If there were no losses, there would be no premiums."  No risk means no profit.  That said, the links were interesting and valuable.  Thanks again.
 
Thanks, also, Aidan.  Glad you liked the token.  And that it is a "coin" is also an interesting view, which I share.