Hi every one. I hope your all well. The token you see at the bottom is one of Peter Kempsons London series.. He made 36� pennys. Now there were much heavier and bigger. This token has edge writing. It says " I Promise To Pay On Demand The Bearer One Penny X" . Now there were two different dies to some of these. Die A on the reverse and die B this one is die A.� There was not that much difference between the two. A word that was it.� � � � � The Guildhall� in London if your there can be seen from King street. The building was built in 1411,but only the very fine crypt remains from the original structure. The fire of London in 1666 destroyed the roof and caused such damage that considerable repair was needed. A new roof was installed in 1669.� � � The old hall was used as a bazaar by booksellers and vendors of various articles.� Now I said the roof was put back on in 1669. However that was temporary and the roof on the token was added by George Dance in 1789..In 1870 a new council Chamber,Library,and Museum were added and the older parts were restored.. As if it had had luck it was badly damaged in air strike� in the second world war,the original council Chamber and the roof again� the great hall were destroyed.�� � � � � � One thing I learned about the British� is there resolve.� They never let them famous� buildings lay in rubble. Now remember it was built in 1411. It was rebuilt in1952 by Sir Giles Scott. Now many are amazed how good the shape of these tokens are. . Well I said in the first one they were sold to collectors and the public. Those sold to collectors were stored in a table like the one below. It has a marble top and many drawers to store the tokens. This one below was sold at Heritage ,don't think I didn't consider buying it. But my wife would throw me out. . It stopped the environment from damage to the tokens. They had a bed of felt that they laid on and stored like a safe. You look closely you will see the poles coming up. So when it was closed it looked like any other table. That's why I can buy� a token with the rich color of red brown. They were taken very good care of.�� � � � � I have been lucky to be able to buy this art. I can't imagine how long it took to make a die of these buildings. Now here is something I found out. Kempson limited these to 200 A piece. Talk about low mintage. But it's a series I do not see anyone compleating. Not with the age and mintage. But think what it would look like. I have seen some in bad shape that gets me upset when I see so many in great shape. This token was bought before my set. And it still has that bright red color. I only wish the pictures could give them justice. Thanks for reading this I hope you enjoyed it. Stay safe . Mike

Hi my friends i hope all of you are well. I decided to write today on the token York. York was in the north of England and has a rich history. We will get the false stories we have been led to believe in. That William Wallace saked York. No. Not close. It made for an ok movie but again we have fiction and non-fiction. They do that allot .� � After the Norman conquest William the Great built a wooden castle. However in 1609 the north of England rose in revolt.The Norman Garrison� was massaquerd . William returned and rebuilt another castle to rebuild the town. So who sacked York? The Vikings. It was Ivar The Boneless and his brothers Ubbe and Hvitserk..It was easy since York was boult by two rivers. The town was slaghterd.. York was important to them because they had a mint.�All the Vikings coinage came from York.� Before i go any further William Wallace did beat the English at the historic battle of Stirling. Wallace defeated Edward the 1st otherwise known as Lonshanks.�� � � � Who founded York before William. The Romans.in 70A.D.� They founded it between the two rivers named Ouse and Foss. The Romans left in 1190 but before that the Jewish population was slaughtered some committed suicide. Rome had settled most of England when they left it was a mess. Now many things happend it York.during the time of the Romans ,the Normans the Vikings. It seemed like Wallace was the only one that didnt sack York. The towns people stayed the same and continued to rebuild.this wonderful town its mane export was wool. There was a big demand for it and wool was made all over England. Many tokens have the machinery on the reverse.. They also built one of the largest Cathedrals in Europe its called The Metropolitcacl Church of St.Peter. Commonly known as York Minister. It is the seat of The Archbishop the third highest office of the church of England..� � � � � Now York has a great story. They made thes tokens so we would� remember the history of England. Yes they tell stories and there fascinating. Braveheart was an ok movie but the real history is so much better .The token the obverse has a view of the Cathedral York 1795 .The reverse has a view of the castle and drawbridge. The edge says York 1223 Cathedral Rebuilt 1076A.D. . Its half a penny the diameter is 28.7 mm 1.8 thick. And weighs 7.18 grm.. Its a wonderful token and as i say read the history. Why did they make such a beautiful token . Because the English are probably one of the best in record� keeping. I could not put every detail� every name. But i told the tokens story. Thanks stay safe.

Hi my friends . Now hope I� you all are ok. This blog was written before but a new token and more information is always welcome. Matthew Bouldien was the general manufacturer in Birmingham. In 1762 he bought and rebuilt some works at a place called SoHo. Little did we know what would be coming . Its on the outside of the town. Now he didnt do this alone a gentleman by the name ofMr. Fothergill was his partner. Now he wasnt done they became aquainted with� Mr. James Watt. He was the man made.famouse by inventing the steam engine. He moved to Soho in 1769.�� � � He knew a good thing when he saw it. He hooked up with the other partners. Now Boultin was not done in 1773 he had an Assay office to his bussiness. Everthing was getting bigger.. In 1788� he added a coin machines and a coin� mill was built. Now what we have is the Soho mint. Beautiful coins and wonderful tokens like the one below. I know NGC is busy but that token is a proof you cant get better. They made a mistake on another one. Back to the blog. Now these machines were putting out 60 to 80 coins per minute. And they were taking care of.� � � � I now the made a few items for the Royal Mint. In 1857 there were no more coins tokens . It was dismantled and the machinery sold toMr. Ralph Heaton and the TheSons of Soho. . Now all good things come to an end the old mint was one.� There are no remains of the old mint. It produced some of the words best tokens and coins you have seen most of my collection. I still have raw tokens� that i like that way. But when you come accross a beautiful token whats the crime in trying to protect it. You hold this token up its remarkable. How they missed this i will tell you. NGC is using other graders in different sections. I will not send another coin or token till this virus ends and it will the other mistake. The token said erected in 1794 they used that as the date. It wasnt. It was made sometimes in the 1700's.� I will send it back . Then again i like� to learn the history is a lesson the reserch all teaches. I hope you enjoyed this one the next one will say proof. The obverse is a view of the Soho Works . Legand, is Soho Manuufactury. Erected in 1764. The reverse is Kempson crest and Birmingham. Thanks i hope you enjoyed it Mike

�I don't know if these qualify as tokens but would very much like to learn. If anyone would like to share info or were to find it that would very much appreciated.

Ten years ago I was spending a lot of time searching through the "junk box" at my local coin shop.� I had not been married too many years, had a mortgage, had two kids in school, and didn't have much money to spend on hobbies; so I was looking for items to enjoy at prices that wouldn't cause trouble with our household budget.� World coins and currency, tokens, and "junk box" finds can provide a lot of enjoyment for little cost.� I learned a lot about world history, geography, international trade, and international monetary systems through poking around a "junk box" for items I didn't recognize.I came across what I thought was a coin in the foreign coin box.� It was denominated in centavos and had the word "lazareto" on it.� It was nowhere near mint state, but it wasn't in bad condition either.� I bought it with several other foreign coins and took it home to look it up.What I discovered later was that it wasn't really a coin in the strictest sense of the word, but rather a token:� a coin-like object used to facilitate a restricted form of exchange or commerce.� It was spent and accepted like money, but only had transactional value within certain establishments or between certain people; it was not universally used for all debts within the jurisdiction of the issuing governing body.� In fact, few people outside of this token's intended circulation would want to even touch it.� The token turned out to be a leper colony coin.If you don't know more than the average person about leprosy (and at the time I did not), your first reaction might be, "What have I just touched!?"� Leprosy is an ancient disease.� Leprosy caused bumps to appear under the skin; patches of skin turned a deathly whitish color.� Hands would lose feeling and movement, and fingers would shorten, making hands look claw-like.� Leprosy also affected the feet, causing the sufferer to walk stiffly and shuffle, like an old-time movie monster.� The nasal membranes would be affected, making it hard to breathe through the nose, or causing nosebleeds or even disfigurement.� Due to the loss of feeling, cuts and burns would go unnoticed, which would then get infected, causing awful-looking wounds and potentially gangrene, sepsis, and death.� For much of history there was no known cure and little known to treat the symptoms.� An advanced case of leprosy was horrible to the sufferer, and unsettling to those around.Leprosy has been socially stigmatized at least since Biblical times.� Some saw the disease as a curse from God, possibly for some evil you or your parents had committed.� As medical science advanced and people began learning how diseases were spread, people feared catching leprosy from an affected person.� Whether people feared being cursed by association, catching the disease through proximity, or simply witnessing its awful effects, ancient (and not so ancient) societies did not want to be around anyone suffering from leprosy.� People with the disease were cast out of society and isolated.� Laws were enacted to keep lepers from coming close to people who didn't have the disease.� Yet, leprosy sufferers often lived quite awhile, and would need care and community.� Therefore, as social outcasts with a common plight, they would often band together and form their own separate communities... and in more modern times, governments would often enforce such an arrangement by creating a separate space for them... what would become known as a "leper colony".� As with most societies, commerce would form, and a means of facilitating commerce would become necessary.� In the case of colonies formed by governments to control the interactions of lepers with the rest of society, special currency for these colonies was created and issued."Leper colony money" served more than one purpose.� For those confined to the colony, it provided an ability to conduct commerce within the colony.� People would have jobs, for which they would be paid.� They could purchase things they needed without having to barter.� Having money to spend would lend some sort of feeling of normalcy.� However, it also made escaping more difficult.� A sufferer might decide to sneak out of the colony... but with no money that would be acceptable outside the colony's walls, it would be hard to get very far.� One could send money to family outside the colony, but only by exchanging leper colony money for local currency through the colony's administration.� I'm sure this was often less than useless, as a corrupt administrator could simply pocket the local currency.As science made further advances, the cause of leprosy was isolated to a slow-growing bacterial infection.� In the mid-20th century, a cure for leprosy (now known as "Hansen's Disease") was discovered.� The Center for Disease Control states that although it is thought that leprosy can spread through aerosolized respiratory droplets (i.e. coughing and sneezing), it is not as successfully contagious as viral diseases such as the flu:� "Prolonged, close contact with someone with untreated leprosy over many months is needed�to catch the disease."� The disease has not been totally eradicated, but it is rare.� Even so, 180,000 cases exist worldwide annually, 100 of which are in the United States.� No transmissions of leprosy have ever been known to occur through handling of coins or currency used by sufferers of the disease.� In spite of this, some people are wary of these numismatic items.� Once a cure and treatment became widespread, the need for leper colony money disappeared.� Like so many other items of currency that were no longer required, many of the coins and notes were destroyed.� Having come from a limited production run in the first place, the destruction of large quantities of these items increases their rarity.� Some, like the "lazareto" type I found, are more common, while others are extremely rare.� Collector value is driven primarily by market, however; a leper colony token is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.� Stigma and paranoia regarding leprosy has contributed to keeping the market cool for these items.For more information on leper colony money, please see this February 13, 2018 article from Atlas Obscura, which includes some information obtained from the ANA's Money Museum Curator Douglas Mudd.I have no photos of the coin I found, but to see an example, click here.