Coins, Tokens and Other Money

I don't really know the history of the tokens of the city but they are a strange mix. Some seem to be in lieu of change given out by businesses especially the pubs but the tokens below don't seem to be in the same type of scheme. For me their interest is the little cameos of parts of the city. I think that I've got images of most of them but if anyone knows of another, please let me know. There are different versions of the same views. I've not included the usual elephant and castle with Godiva reverse.

Helen, these look wonderful. I hope you get lots of feedback.

In terms of rarity of these tokens - the interior of the Grammar School and the open book (both with Philemon Holland on the reverse); the rear of the Grammar School (with John Hales on the reverse) and 3 different versions of the King's Head with Peeping Tom, on Smithford Street, are the least likely to appear online, although that might not be a reflection of true rarity.

Well I thought that I'd seen all the Coventry tokens but up pops another. There's an equally worn cross on the other side, but it gets my vote for novelty value.

Here is a quote from the Herbert Art Gallery (they have some of these). "'Kempson tokens' are a collection of coins made by Peter Kempson (1755-1824), a buttonmaker and token manufacturer in Birmingham, England. Kempson produced more than 60 tons of tokens from 1791 to 1799. He also sold dies to other token manufacturers, who produced a variety of tokens for collectors! Token coins became a common practice in England in the early 19th century when banks turned to cheaper metals and lighter weights to create coins." I'll try and dig a bit further (when I have time ) in my just purchased 'Dalton and Hamer', something of a bible for these things. The crown wasn't all that interested in producing lower denominations, they were more concerned with silver and gold, so it was left to traders to make their own. I'm not sure Banks had anything to do with it. Being close to Birmingham it was natural for Coventry to have tokens made there, Birmingham being a centre of 'manufactury' at the time. The original Coventry mint was around in the 14-1500s (Edward IV). I believe it was on the site of the Golden Cross pub. I saw one Coventry minted coin in Birmingham museum, many years ago, they are not that common, liable to cost you thousands! I need to consult my 'Coins of England' to find out more. I'm really mainly interested in 20th Century LSD (Pounds shillings and pence that is). If you search on Baldwins site (https://issuu.com/baldwinscoins/docs/baldwins_auction_102_-_4_octoberr_2) for their 102 auction there are pages and pages of Kempson. Apparently very prolific. Anyway, very interesting collection.

That's very interesting John. From that I'm assuming that the John of Gaunt coin with Coventry cross reverse is a collector token, made from a Coventry die and one from another area. Although John of Gaunt does have a connection to Coventry as Henry IV's father. He was at Coventry when his son and heir, Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV), and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk were to fight a duel on Gosford Green. The Gaunt side seems to appear on a number of tokens including Lancaster, Leeds and one non place specific. Edited to reflect that the duel did not go ahead,

Does anyone know who won the duel - my husband's from Norfolk?

Actually, come to think of it, the duel was stopped at the last minute by Richard II, who then banished both of them. Henry didn't stay gone and came back to depose and probably have Richard assassinated. John of Gaunt died though before that. Small additional factoid - Gaunt should have been Ghent, as that was where he was born.

The Gaunt / Ghent thing is a fascinating insight in itself into how our language corrupts and evolves over the years. Meanwhile, I did put together a short few paragraphs outlining the Duel that never was on my Stoke website.

Wow! That was certainly an event that changed history.

When in the Herbert, the other day, I took a photo of the Kempsonn Tokens they have on display:

I was at the Midland Coin Fair on Sunday and came across some Kempson Coventry tokens. First time I've seen them in the flesh. The were copper/bronze. Turns out they're for sale by auction by a firm called Hosker Haynes (who I've never heard about b4) on March 25th. The chap said they were doing two lots of 6, with an estimate of £2-300 pound and a lot of 3 for something less.

The auction (hoskerhaynes.com) actually had 4 lots of 6 tokens apiece. The first three went for ~£300 the fourth for £200. Lots 229-232 at the very end of the sale. So, round about £50 per token.

Thanks for that John You have to add about 30% onto those prices because of the fees for auction houses and online platforms that you might use. Then delivery, collection etc. That's why the Ebay items often start at £80 each. I've been tempted by a few of them because of the images they show but not at £80+ each!