Saturday, September 11, 2010

Catbert's FUN Haul - (2) Skidmore Conder Token

My second new piece of four acquired at FUN is a Conder token. I had not anticipated finding decent Conders at this show, but when I came across this one, I had to have it. The seller happened to be the ANA's General Counsel, Ron Sirna, who has recently taken a liking to this type of coinage and has 100s in his inventory and collection. He and I had a great conversation at the show and I was in the rare position of educating him on a few of the Conders in his case!

As a reminder, Conder tokens (otherwise known as British provincial tokens) were produced in the late 1700s due to merchants needing small change that the Crown would not produce in sufficient quantity. Merchants needed some way to pay their increasing workforces during the Industrial Revolution in Britain. They eventually became so popular that several minters produced specialty pieces just for collectors to trade among themselves.
This is such a piece and was one of many made in the 1790s by a Peter Skidmore. His pieces depict several famous buildings in London. While the piece was considered to be a penny and has an edge inscription "I PROMISE TO PAY", they did not see much circulation.

This token depicts St. Pancras, a hospital that treated small pox victims. It was estimated that 60% of the population became infected with it being fatal to about 20% of the population. An English physician named Edward Jenner was instrumental in discoverying a vaccine and applied it to the sick at St. Pancras.

Interestingly, a British satirist named "James Gillray caricatured a vaccination scene at St. Pancras, showing Edward Jenner vaccinating frightened young women, and cows emerging from different parts of people's bodies."

"The cartoon was inspired by the controversy over inoculating against the dread disease, smallpox. The inoculation agent, cowpox vaccine, was rumored to have the ability to sprout cow-like appendages. A serene Edward Jenner stands amid the crowd. A boy next to Jenner holds a container labeled "VACCINE POCK hot from ye COW"; papers in the boy's pocket are labeled "Benefits of the Vaccine". The tub on the desk next to Jenner is labeled "OPENING MIXTURE". A bottle next to the tub is labeled "VOMIT". The painting on the wall depicts worshippers of the Golden Calf."

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_cow_pock.jpg
And now for the coin - at last! I selected this token for its wonderful 100% red obverse and to own a piece with such an odd theme for a coin - small pox! It is about the size of a silver dollar too!


The reverse isn't as compelling as the obverse. Brown copper is so hard for me to photograph clearly (especially in a slab) and I haven't done very well getting proper lighting. The rim reads: P. SKIDMORE * MEDAL MAKER * COPPICE - ROW * CLERKENWELL <>. I am assuming that is his coat-of-arms in the center.


So, there you have a story to go along with my 2nd of 4 coins from the show!

A New Washington Quarter

I bought this from Mark Feld. I wasn't in the market for a high grade Washington quarter, but the piece has a wonderful golden flash in hand and I like the colorful toning. So, I decided to buy it.

These pics are from Todd Pollock and while they show the golden luster quite nicely, the detail is missing on the bust and on the tail feathers (it does exist).

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Exhibit - War! Neptune! Horses?

I am very excited about my new piece received for XMAS and want to share with you some of the interesting history and images regarding this 1797 Conder token. First a little history lesson that I think you’ll enjoy! Reading this will further your appreciation for the token pics at the end of this post.


The Larger War

The Anglo-Spanish War between 1796 and 1808 was a part of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. In the War of the First Coalition, Spain had fought against Revolutionary France and had been defeated. In 1796 Prime Minister Godoy faced a decision: whether to continue to fight Revolutionary France or to join the French side and hope for better times. He chose the latter and signed a treaty allying with the French.

In response, the British blockaded Spain in 1797 and separated her colonial empire from the mother country. By the end of 1798, the Spanish fleet had been defeated by the British.

A Key Battle – The Battle of Cape St Vincent (1797)

A Spanish fleet of between 27 ships left Cartagena on the Mediterranean Sea, with the intention of sailing to Cadizto join the French fleet.


On February 11, a ship captained by Horatio Nelson, came across the Spanish fleet and passed through them unseen thanks to heavy fog. Nelson reached the British squadron of 15 ships off Spain on February 13, and passed the location of the Spanish fleet to Admiral John Jervis (the hero shown on my token), commanding the squadron from his flagship HMS Victor. Want to see the Admiral’s quarters?

http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/Heritage/...ry/cabins.html

Unaware of the size of his opponent's fleet -- in the fog, Nelson had been unable to count them -- Jervis' squadron immediately sailed to intercept.

As dawn broke on the 14th, Jervis' ships were in position to engage the Spanish, and vice versa. On the quarter-deck of Victory, Jervis, Captain Calder and Captain Hallowell counted the ships. It was at this point Jervis discovered that he was outnumbered nearly two-to-one:

"There are eight sail of the line, Sir John"
"Very well, sir"
"There are twenty sail of the line, Sir John"
"Very well, sir"
"There are twenty five sail of the line, Sir John"
"Very well, sir"
"There are twenty seven sail of the line, Sir John"
"Enough, sir, no more of that; the die is cast, and if there are fifty sail I will go through them"

It would have been difficult to withdraw, however, and Jervis also decided that the situation would only worsen were the Spanish fleet to meet with the French, so he decided to continue onward.
To the British advantage, the Spanish fleet was gathered into two groups and unprepared for battle, while the British were already in line. Jervis ordered the British fleet to pass between the two groups, minimizing the fire they could apply to him, while letting him fire in both directions simultaneously.

A “Sail of the Line”

A sail-of-the-line or ship-of-the-line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th century through the mid-19th century, to take part in the the naval tactic known as the “line of battle”, in which two columns of opposing warships would maneuver to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear. The line-of-battle tactic required ships to form long single-file lines, and close with the enemy fleet on the same tack, battering the other fleet until one side had had enough and retreated. Any maneuvers would be carried out with the ships remaining in line for mutual protection. Since these engagements were almost invariably won by the heaviest ships carrying the most powerful guns, the natural order was to build sailing vessels that were the largest and most powerful of their time.

Although Spain, the Netherlands and France built huge fleets, and even in France's case with better ships, they were rarely able to match the skill of British naval crews. British crews excelled, in part, because they spent much more time at sea, were generally better fed, were well trained in gunnery (allowing a faster rate of fire), and were generally more competent as the Royal Navey based promotion much more on merit rather than securing leadership positions by purchase. Traditionally neglecting the British Army, which, historically, has usually been smaller than the armies of comparably prominent continental countries, Britain devoted more resources to her prized navy.

Victory

Due to the skill of one of Jervis’ captains, Horatio Nelson, during the battle and Jervis’ commitment to engage, a great victory was obtained for the Royal Navy - 15 British ships had defeated a Spanish fleet of 27, and the Spanish ships had a greater number of guns and men. But, Admiral Jervis had trained a highly disciplined force and this was pitted against a Spanish navy under Don José Córdoba that was little more than a panic stricken mob. Of 600-900 men on board his ships, only some 60 to 80 were trained seamen, the others being soldiers or inexperienced landsmen. The Spanish men fought courageously but without direction. After the San José was captured it was found that some of her guns still had their tompions (a plug or cover for a cannon “mouth” to keep out dust and moisture) in place. The confusion amongst the Spanish fleet was so great that they were unable to use their guns without causing more damage to their own ships than to the British.
My New Token!

And so, the circumstances and outcome of this key battle is recounted in my new token. This copper piece in uncirculated condition was used as a general trade token. These tokens were created by merchants who needed small change since the crown was unwilling to mint sufficient copper pieces for commerce during the industrial revolution in Britain. It is catalogued as a Hampshire Portsmouth 61 – Rare with < 75 made with an edge inscription of “PORTSMOUTH HALFPENNY PAYABLE AT THOS SHARPS. Thomas Sharp (1770- 1841), was a hatter, antiquarian and numismatist.

The obverse shows the mythical Neptune - King of the Sea commending Admiral Jervis for his victory. Check out Neptune’s chariot with horses that are very compelling to me. Neptune’s horses were known as hippocamps – half horse and half fish or commonly known as sea horses!




The reverse recounts Jervis’ accomplishment. Note the misspelling of “pursued”. I love these imperfections on old coins.


Hopefully, your patience in reading the above history before you saw my token pictures has helped you better enjoy this piece. I am thrilled to add it to my collection.


* The history given above was obtained from various internet sources including Wikipedia and Answers among others.

Check out my collection!

http://bluccphotos.com/clients/catbert/1-15-10/