Gold?

[Whatdayagot]

My friend found this recently I’ve never seen a gold colored one is it a reale and is it gold ? 1/2 reale? View attachment 1872416 View attachment 1872417 View attachment 1872418

 

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[smokeythecat]

No, not a half reale. Find the weight. It LOOKS to be a George III half guinea. They were made of gold. There were tokens also make of brass like them, but the weight will tell the tale! I don't think it's a full guinea, due to the size but a finger is not the best thing to measure it by.

Half guinea about 4.1 grams, full guinea about 8.3 grams.

 

[Red-Coat]

Sadly not.

That’s an imitation of an English gold coin of George III… a half guinea if it’s 20mm diameter or a guinea if it’s 24mm. Popularly known as ‘spade’ guineas or half guineas from the shape of the shield. Despite the date (often 1790) it was produced in Victorian times, and in brass not gold. Some are generic and some were often produced as advertising pieces by shops and merchants, both types serving as handy tokens for use in card games and such… both for parlour use and more serious gambling.

The legend on the reverse is usually arranged to resemble that of the real coins but with completely different wording. I believe yours is the variety catalogued as:

N.C.R.ET.CO.DG.L.T.REX.F.D.B.I.R.M / . 1790.

The first part of the legend is the issuer’s name and at the end is an abbreviation for ‘Birmingham’. The actual issuer is uncertain, but R.N.P. Hawkins has this to say in his “Catalogue of the Advertisement Imitations of ‘Spade’ Guineas and their Halves”:

The identity of this issuer is not definitely established; the clues strongly point to the firm named below, although the present company does not support the attribution. The letters DG.L.T. should indicate the line of business but remain unsolved.
One of the 'half-guineas' was published by Batty in 1880. Among Birmingham directories of preceding decades the only business found bearing the sought initials was a jeweller's taken over within 1873/5 from Walter Reading & Co. (founded 1847) by Mr. Nathaniel Cracknell Reading, at 186 Warstone Lane. It moved, within 1901/4, to 33-35 Hall Street, where it is still run in his name and by the Reading family, as N.C. Reading & Co. Ltd., jewellers and chain manufacturers, Warstone Chain Works. It is, moreover, the sole survivor of a number of nineteenth-century jewellery businesses in Birmingham owned by persons of that family surname.

 

[Whatdayagot]

I’ll check the weight and post measurements it was found at a very old house that was torn down dated to very early 1800s but who knows if something was there before it and also had rev war activity

 

[Red-Coat]

There are dozens of variations on these brass spade guinea/half guinea tokens. They’re Victorian or later and generally not before about 1860. The use of the older George III guinea as the base design was just a piece of nostalgia coupled with the need to ensure that they weren't copying a coin that was still in circulation. Here are a just a few of the many examples, which are common finds over here:



Yours very obviously has ‘B.I.R.M’ as the final part of the legend, which you would never find on an authentic coin.



Hawkins lists the following variants with the Birmingham abbreviation (and more may have arisen since his 1963 publication):

GUINEA SIZE:
N.C.R.ET.CO.DG.L.T.REX.F.D.B.I.R.M / . 1790.
B.BROS.REX.F.D.CLXX.HOCKLEY.B.I.R.M I .1790.
CJH.REX.FID.CLX. LOZELLS.B.I.R.M / .1770.
C.W.B.ET.CO.D G. I.REX F.D.B.I.R.M / .1790. (legend interrupted by cross and crown)
•J.G.REX.F.D.M.C.M.D.S.T.M.S.B.I.R.M. / 1790

HALF GUINEA SIZE:
C.H.A.R.L.E.S.P.E.V.E.R.E.L.L.E.M.A.K.E.R.B.I.R.M I .1788.
N.C.R.ET.CO.DG.L.T.REX.F.D.B.I.R.M / .1790.
B.BROS.REX.F.D.CLXX.HOCKLEY.B.I.R.M I .1790.
C.W.B.ET.CO.DG.I.T.REX.F.D.B.I.R.M / .1790.
W.C.B.ET.CO.DG.I T.REX.FD.B.I.R.M / .1790.
.W.C.B.ET.CO.DG.I T.REX.FD.B.I.R.M. / 1790

 

[Whatdayagot]

Cool thanks for the info I appreciate it back to the drawing board ! Lol

 

[bradyboy]

has hole
thinking bracelet, belly dancing garb, jewlery
imo
brady

 

[Red-Coat]

has hole
thinking bracelet, belly dancing garb, jewlery
imo
brady

If you look at the type examples I posted above, you will see that six of them are holed. It's very common to see that. People used them as good luck pieces or pendants. bracelet charms, key and watch fobs among other things for years after they were produced. Belly dancers were a bit thin on the ground in Britain.

Incidentally, one other common use for these tokens was by bookmakers (turf accountants) at racecourses. They would have a few stacks of them on their tables as an enticement to bet, creating the impression that they could cover a big win, and without risk of losing much if robbed by ruffians.

 

[ArfieBoy]

Sorry it's not genuine Whadayagot! Thanks Smokey and Red-Coat for your knowledge and vast resources!

 

[CRUSADER]

Yeap, a brass gaming token. Nice Victorian period find though.