When a local lake was drained that used to have an 1890's amusement park located on it shores, I found this wonderful love token.
The love token is unusual in that both sides of the coin were engraved, whereas normally just the reverse side is engraved. Oh, it was a Seated Liberty Quarter.
Our metal detecting club had a guest speaker who is an expert on Love Tokens and he really like this one for being unique in that manner. I was told it would be OK to clean up the staining on it from the hundred years of sitting under water, but I have never done so. It is pretty enough just the way I found it......
Don in South Jersey
"The mantra has always been don't clean a (copper) coin or it will lose value.
For undug coins this is true. For dug coins this is untrue.
The value will increase with judicious cleaning."
Gypsy, I tried looking up those initials for residents of that time frame in hopes of determining who the two individuals were, but I got nowhere. Our population in Southern New Jersey at that time was not too big, so I thought I had a shot at it.
I wonder if the top set of initials are the guy and the bottom the gal, or vica versa. I do remember when I was looking for the names I was trying the lower set of initials as the guy, since in 1890 in this area, you would most likely be more affluent to get a love token made and the initials FNW matched those of a prominant manufacturer in our area, but I believe the age was not right for making one for a gal or the one initial was wrong, not sure.
But, maybe someday I will stumble upon the names and than that would be something very special to know.
Don
"The mantra has always been don't clean a (copper) coin or it will lose value.
For undug coins this is true. For dug coins this is untrue.
The value will increase with judicious cleaning."
In the UK Love Tokens were popular between 1790-1830. They were mainly William III sixpences (as pictured), the wealthy would use shillings. They were bend in opposite directions & discarded in a favourite spot never to be found again!!
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