I have several little medals, coronation etc of Charles I - when this Simon de Passe jeton came up I had to have it. I received it in the post just yesterday - and then promptly misplaced it in a desk drawer. I spent literally a couple of hours going through drawers, cabinets etc looking for where I had misplaced it. I had shredded the envelope it came in so I even checked through the shreddings. Then yesterday evening I was reaching for a post it note pad and there was the holder my jeton was in. The de Passe family was a family of engravers from Zeeland in the Netherlands, Crispijn de Passe was the patriarch of this family. His eldest son Simon de Passe(1596-1646) was one of the more prolific engravers and was hired by the Danes to work in Copenhagen in 1624 where he worked until his death. In addition to many engravings, he created many unique jetons such as the one below - thought it is a machine struck jeton in silver - the appearance gives the impression that it is an engraving: The effect of the medal must have been created through a reverse transfer of the original hub into subsequent dies. It was created in Denmark and exported to the British market where it was used as a counter or memento. This piece is 26mm in diametre and is on a very thin planchet.
Nice jeton. Anything before the restoration (1660) is too brutal for me, I appreciate the beauty of the piece. As you know, Charles I was the victim of regicide: The scene is taken from the excellent movie (available on Netflix) "The Power and the Passion: Charles II". It was about the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 by Charles II after his father Charles I was killed by Parliament. If the depiction of Charles II's mother (also on your jeton) is half correct, she was a real piece of work (and not in a good way). The movie is really powerful, however. The depiction of Charles II is unforgetable. After watching the movie, George Villiers (the Duke of Buckingham) became one of my minor heroes. Unfortunately for my latest avatar (the Duke of Shrewsbury), the Duke of Buckingham kills his father (in a sword duel not shown in the movie). Great jeton. Thanks for sharing. guy
