Featured "Bertha's Boy": WW1 love token on 1916 French franc, from a fallen Canadian soldier to his mother

This World War I trench art love token on a French franc cost me $37.03, so I posted it in the "post your purchase under $50" thread. But I thought it deserved its own thread, so I'm reposting it here.

"Bertha's Boy"

World War I love token on 1916 French franc, from a fallen Canadian soldier to his mother







Host coin: 1916 French 1-franc piece, KM844.1, .835 silver/.1342 oz., 23 mm.

Obverse: original French "Sower" design, unaltered.

Reverse: "1 Franc" and olive branch planed off, date and legends intact, re-engraved "Bertha / V. Shaver / Montreal / Canada" in script. Ex-"pondcollections" (eBay), 2/9/2016.

World War I "trench art" pieces and love tokens are commonly found on the French 1- and 2-franc "Sower" coins of the period. This one is visually unremarkable, though the engraved script was well done. At first glance, it's not even as interesting as the "dog tag" or "ID badge" pieces that typically bear a soldier's name, service number, and/or unit.

However, I decided to research it because of the presence of a full name (first, last, and middle initial), to see if I could pin down more information about the onetime owner of this piece. It turned out I found very little about Bertha V. Shaver of Montreal, Canada, who was obviously the recipient of the love token, but through her name, I was able to determine with a reasonable amount of certainty that the engraving was commissioned by her son, Harold Clinton Shaver, who was serving with the Canadian Army Medical Service in France during the Great War.

Since the date was left intact on the host coin, we know it was engraved no earlier than 1916. Of course the war ended in November of 1918, but the life of Private Harold Shaver was tragically cut short before that, on May 20, 1918, from wounds suffered the day before in a German air raid on the hospital he was probably working in. Thus we can pretty definitively date the engraving on the coin to sometime between October of 1917, when Harold Shaver enlisted, and May 19, 1918, when he was mortally wounded.

As a further compelling detail to this poignant tale, I discovered a newspaper photograph of Harold Clinton Shaver on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial website. So this is now the second time I've been able to "put a face to the coin", and it was a young and handsome face at that.

May Harold and Bertha Shaver rest in peace, and I hope the joy of their eventual reunion in heaven eclipsed the suffering they experienced during their earthly existence.



Data source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial

(Note that there are some minor discrepancies in the sources. His death date was given as May 19th below, though that was the date of his wounding. He died on May 20th.)



Data source: Canadian Great War Project

 

Wow, so even his birthplace town is gone, now? I didn't know that. I think that adds another interesting facet to the story. Thanks!

 

Now this is purely coincidental, and sort of like seeing cloud animals, but look where the engraving on the reverse got done, and how the toning in fields (or lack thereof) is a different color behind the engraving than it is on the rest of the coin, due to the slight surface alteration.

Does anybody else see a maple leaf in that shape?

I do,though it's purely imaginary, of course.

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, as I did in the other thread, that the person I sold this piece said he is going to donate this coin to the Canadian War Museum. I was delighted to hear that and couldn't think of a better place for it.

That will be the second or third time one of my finds ended up in a museum. Makes a collector proud.