FREE: AUTHENTIC VERY RARE DUG 17TH CENTURY 1629 BRITISH TRADE TOKEN STILL AS FOUND RARE

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17TH CENTURY BRITISH

17th Century

Most of the tokens were struck issues, using copper or brass — though they are known in a few other metals. Allcom the earliest pieces were farthings — varying in diameter from 14 to 22 mm in general. The pieces struck for municipalities were usually in the 20-22 mm range, those issued by merchants of the smaller sizes.  The farthing issues, other than the municipal issues, seldom mentioned their value on the token. The first halfpenny seen is dated 1656.  Still uncommon then, the halfpenny became the dominant issue after 1664.  A few penny tokens were also issued, most in use in Wales and the north of England.

When looking at Ireland, however, we find that the penny was the most common — although they were mostly the size of the English farthing pieces!!

The vast majority of the tokens are round — or as round as they could make them. Around 1668, a few other shapes were tried. These include heart-shaped tokens, diamond shapes, square pieces, and octagonal tokens. Most of these are quite rare, in demand

Why were they issued? And what possessed the population to think that they could issue them? After all, for centuries it had been the King’s Prerogative to issue money of any kind. If one were to take it upon themselves to issue “money”— in any form — they would have been subject to the King’s law — which was usually understood to be death.  This was not a law that many wished to test.