There are some who don't subscribe to the love token theory.
They say that there are just too many and it's all a myth.
Any ideas what else they could be?
Nice one on the silver love token, but the Tudor clothing fastener is a real choice find for sure. Both finds have a personal touch to them, which is better than simple coinage.
The first Love Token I dug was a copper and I thought no wonder it's in the field you poor sod.
Have you ever dug a counter stamped Love token?
All the counter stamp are flat also, thought it would be a given that there would be one made into a Love token.
I'm speculation here, but the couterstamps were to keep a worn coin in circulation, & a bent coin made into a Love Token was taking it out of circulation, so there might be some sense in no crossover.
Here is mine that I found at a very early site in Pennsylvania. Looks like it may have been bent then straightened out again.
I was going to ask if it was common to see them holed. But it came from the same site as this holed Hungarian coin, and that site was once an Indian Trading post, so they may have been trading these coins for use as pendants. However, British troops camped here during the French & Indian War so your theory is a possibility too.Interesting....Not seen a holed one before. I wonder if she took his gift & as they were travelling to the New World she hole it to wear around the neck for safe keeping, & maybe came on troubled times & straighten it for spending??
SS, I wasn't implying that my Hungarian coin was a love token, but it is another "holed" coin from a site where trading was carried out with American Indians, who loved to wear silver trinkets, including silver coins. It would be cool if my William III love token had started out as a love token in England and ended up as jewelry on an American Indian.It's only a love token if it's bent into a S shape, this was derived from the well-recorded practice of bending a coin when making a vow to a saint. Bending a coin when one person made a vow to another, the coin would be bent by the giver, if it was returned bent the other way, it was taken the vow was excepted, by each other.
SS
In many countries it is believed that holed coins are lucky, they also thought to acquire curative powers over various ailments, Such otherwise normal coins, which had been offered at communion, were purchased from the priest for 12 or 13 pennies. The coin was then punched through and worn around the neck of the sick person, or made into a ring.I was going to ask if it was common to see them holed. But it came from the same site as this holed Hungarian coin, and that site was once an Indian Trading post, so they may have been trading these coins for use as pendants. However, British troops camped here during the French & Indian War so your theory is a possibility too.
I know you weren't Steve, I was just adding info about the love tokens to the thread.SS, I wasn't implying that my Hungarian coin was a love token, but it is another "holed" coin from a site where trading was carried out with American Indians, who loved to wear silver trinkets, including silver coins. It would be cool if my William III love token had started out as a love token in England and ended up as jewelry on an American Indian.