Help needed identifying a token.

[basecamp]

Hi all, had some really excellent finds so far this year starting in February with my hammered Henry VIII silver penny (Bishop Ruthall) some 15 x 16/17th Century lead tokens and only this morning I found my 6th Scottish Charles I 'Turner' or 'Bodle' (complete thistle! this time). Not sure about this token though which I found yesterday, its 27mm, made of lead and if you look closely has a beaded border. The two fish look like pike but could be salmon - which is of course irrelevant! The other side is blank.

Question is though is it a token - has anyone seen any thing similar?

[basecamp]

Here of course is the image!!!

Edited April 27, 2008 by basecamp

[scottishmoney]

The fascinating aspect of these is that they are enigmatic, but the problem with them is that they are also enigmatic. So many of the very early tokens in Great Britain were light on inscriptions, as most people were not literate(only people in the church and few in government) so that most people could only make associations with something based on pictures etc. This particular piece might have been issued by a fishmonger, I have seen later tokens from the 17th century with fish on them that were indeed issued by people in that trade.

[basecamp]

The fascinating aspect of these is that they are enigmatic, but the problem with them is that they are also enigmatic. So many of the very early tokens in Great Britain were light on inscriptions, as most people were not literate(only people in the church and few in government) so that most people could only make associations with something based on pictures etc. This particular piece might have been issued by a fishmonger, I have seen later tokens from the 17th century with fish on them that were indeed issued by people in that trade.

Thanks for your quick reply Scotishmoney, so do you think its earlier than 17 th Century then?

[basecamp]

Update: Just had a load of my finds returned from our local Finds Liason Officer for the Portable Antiquites Scheme, he was well impressed with the above fish token describing it as a childs toy! He states its a minature toy plate bearing 2 fish from a dolls house. These are often found in and around London but very rare out side the capital he dated it as 17th Century though and suggested that it was a very good find never the less.

Obviously some things aren't always what they seem - one token less in my collection

[scottishmoney]

A toy? Who would have known? Two fish on a plate. Wow.