1800 AD., Great Britain, George III spade guinea type Brass Token or Gaming Counter, by S&T & Timmins.
Great Britain, George III spade guinea type counter, by S&T & Timmins, 1800 AD.,
Brass Token, Gaming counter (20 mm / 2,58 g),
Obv.: GEORGIUS III DEI GRATIA / S & T , head of George III right, roped border.
Rev.: M. B. F. ET. H. REX. F. D. B. ET. L. D. S. R. I. A. T. ET. E / 1800 , around crowned shield, roped border. The shield is divided into four sections, representing Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.
Mi 6169 .
A gaming token, made to resemble a George III guinea, which was made of gold. A true guinea ought to weigh 8.4 grams, and a half-guinea 4.2g.
The word jeton comes from the french jeter meaning to throw, as one would throw ones chips onto a roulette table. We sometimes call them medallions, tokens or imitation guineas.
The spade guinea is a gold coin of King George III, so-called because its crown over pointed shield looks like a garden spade. It was minted from 1787 to 1799, when the sovereign became the standard British gold coin. In later years, the old spade guineas and half spade guineas were copied extensively and used as advertisement tokens, card counters, commemorative medals, and as parts of badges when holed for suspension. Most are anonymous, but a small portion had their legends changed to indicate their issuer or their purpose. R. N. P. Hawkins published an important series of articles on them in the 'British Numismatic Journal' from 1960 to 1968, and there has been increased collector interest in the series recently because of the publication of two books: David Magnay's 'A Catalogue of Advertising Imitation Spade Guineas and Half Guineas' (1997) and Bryce Nelson's 'One Thousand Guineas' (2004). This unusual piece is signed "S&T", has a roped border and the date 1800, which seems to have been the actual year it was minted.