Copper coins later became widely used in Britain during the occupation of the Romans as small change, exchange-struck figures, and civic tokens. These copper tokens broadly imitated silver Roman coinage and were tokens of the metal regardless of weight, as opposed to the intrinsic value of a debased metal. These tokens can be construed as minted by imperial edicts in the Roman province that, at the time, had coins in currency deemed insufficient to make change for minor transactions and as the market approached. Since the issuing authorities had no minting capability in their cities, the coins were locally produced to satisfy the demand for lower denominations of money. Examples of these types of tokens can also be found in India during the transition between the Roman Republic and the Empire.
Copper has been used for coinage for minting coins for over 4000 years and is one of the two metals, other than silver and gold, that mints have used for striking legal tender. Copper coins were first introduced in Britain by the Celts for the coinage of their clients in about 150 B.C. At that time, two varieties of copper coins were struck, and both obverse and reverse types were primarily derived from gold coins. The Roman occupation of England in A.D. 43 discouraged the use of their coinage of silver denarii. The Empire had begun to debase the coinage by thinly plating the silver with copper. The copper under the thin silver plating was the bread or base metal from which people derived the term for the debased coinage as “bread and circuses.”
Definition of Antique Copper Tokens
The purpose of this large variety of copper tokens was to cover a market need created by the lack of quantities of legal circulating money, which were so scarce at the end of the eighteenth century that even the owners of the leading industries in New Spain would also deliver small amounts of copper “blanquillos” for the wage payment of their workers. This type of coin was the first money that the large majority of workers received and circulated within the city. Many problems arose from such small transactions; for instance, the workers who accumulated the blanquillos were charged as coiners (false coiners), even if the alloys used differed from those utilized to strike the legal mint coins.
As a pioneer of antique numismatics in Mexico, Antonio Sedano Andrade, in his seminal work “Apuntes sobre monedas que circular en Mexico,” launched in 1877, first introduced the concept of “national and provincial copper tokens” for the series of blankets under discussion. More recently, in 1991, after analyzing that local television operators used “seals of the time to pay for programming rights to operate,” Carlos Morales considered the challenge of defining and classifying these pieces. Finally, he concluded that it was “copper tokens Spaelman-Morelos, better known as Spaeman-Todo Santos, blanquillos, jicaritas, fluorines, chisantemas, naipes, cookies or pests” and defined as “emissive money on behalf of a company, person, or institution that circulated in a small area of the countryside or local population since the late sixteenth century until 1894”.
Significance of Thomsons Warehouse Token
The obverse, which also serves as the reverse, has engraved the following whimsical and scarcely appropriate motto upon the field: ‘Within this shop, the coin is refused, and people starve and are not excused.’ In a double circle are the arms of the Glasgow Grocers’ incorporation, the shield ensigned on either side with a figure of justice and above that of Hope. In the field is the initial B.E. and M.C., the former of which has not been identified, while the latter refers to Mr. Benjamin Easton, the last conjunct partner of the firm. After the issue of Borland’s token, it is current, although at great depreciation, for the domestic purposes of the ‘Wesleyan Baur Hill Sabbath School’, the Warehouse people also followed suit.
At some point in 1944, copper tokens came to light in a quantity of a score or more. Inquiries being made in Glasgow, it was ascertained that this find had not been an isolated one, further information being given by a friend who had not only seen but had, in bygone years, made an addition to a similarly remarkable cache. Thomson’s Warehouse was known to and was held in some circumspection. Still, it was only until now that the firm was known to have had a token issue of their own, and even that with certainty, aside from the reliable memory of old citizens who, at the end of the last century, when Thomson’s was in existence, have made use of their current coin. In a moment of reflection, one of these witnesses, having perhaps entered into a surmise of the incompetency of the token to purchase necessaries other than those dispensed at the Warehouse Counter, bemoaned it as nothing but trash!
The History and Significance of Old Antique Copper Tokens
During their use, the coins underwent a lot of chipping and scratching. When an archaeologist or a lucky plowman finds these, nature’s tampering has polished the scratched object to great art. This, then, is precisely where the job of restoration and conservation must come up. These things remind contemporary society of their ancient roots and traditional culture. Our students must get to see the ancient works and styles of their ancestral roots and treasure them as heirlooms.
These copper tokens must have originated when India first needed coinage. Coins are the earliest form of what we know of as a monetary system. The Indus Valley Civilisation had coins as far back as 2,500 years. The sense of making transactions with a marketable object, unlike swap, brought in by these objects, gave it a status symbol during its use. The coins depicted scenes from nature, gods, and goddesses that were worshipped – details like people adorned in traditional jewelry and dress of the time. Starting from rough and crude, these objects slowly progressed into a more fine representation of the times, giving it a deep sense of time. These tokens began getting more into the mainstream of culture and workmanship. This showed the monetary and respect value of the times they belonged to. The coins of the regions of Kangale, Usulapur, Sheopur, and Dungarpur depict these finer aspects of work and design of the times they were cast in multiple lines with the local culture.
Any new item is generally associated with a sense of curiosity enclosing it. The older they get, the finer the items become, giving it a next-of-kin feeling that develops a more profound sense of likeness. This has a close resemblance to time.
The Antique Retro Classic Centre invites visitors to view its old antique copper tokens display. The local cheddars and tradesmen issued copper tokens to assist the employees in their daily monetary exchange needs. When these tokens are not retrieved, the financial exchange loses its value. Hence, the management of these tokens was kept secure with the trade unions and committees involved. Unannounced inspections to check if any persons were using these tokens unlawfully or in contraband trade, and the offenders would be suitably penalized. These tokens provide a peep into the historical aspects of wage payments and societal norms prevalent at the time.
