Coins and Jettons
James Timmins introduces us to Medieval to Tudor period coins and jettons, and examples of his local finds.
Hammered coins are some of the most elusive finds that detectorists search for. These super thin silver coins were hand made by a person hitting a blank piece of silver with a pressed stamp and a hammer. The coins are often damaged and well worn due to their fragility and the illegal practice of coin clipping where unscrupulous people would trim the edges off the silver coin and then melt them down.
The first image below shows a medieval coin with its long cross and three pellets depiction and it dates from around the 14th to 15th century. The quatrefoil symbol in the centre of the cross shows that it was made by the Archbishop of York’s mint. There is also a fine example of an Elizabeth 1st three pence that still has clear detail and shows the date of 1573. This coin has a mint mark of the Tower of London.
Another interesting item from history that I have found a couple examples of in the village is a jetton. This looks like a coin but it was never used as money, instead it was a counter for doing arithmetic or used as a gaming token. Strangely the most common jettons found in the UK are from post medieval Germany, in particular from Nuremberg. This city was famed for its production of Jettons and there were several large family dynasties making these items and exporting them across Europe. The Nuremberg jettons are often called Rose Orb jettons due to the common depiction of an orb within a rose like image.
The term ‘Chancellor of the Exchequer’ comes from the checkered cloth that was used to do the arithmetic for accounting in medieval times. Jettons would be placed upon the squares on the cloth to allow the accountant to make calculations. However, due to the large number of jettons found throughout the country it is assumed that they could not all of been used for accounting and they must also have been used as gaming tokens.
A Nuremberg jetton from about 1500-1550. It has been pierced so someone may have wore it around their neck at some point in time. It has the common rose around an orb design.
This jetton has been identified as being produced by Hans Schultes II in Nuremberg between 1586 and 1603.