Blazing Red 200+ Year Old Copper Token

I am an excitable boy, they all said! Take a look at my new piece that is a beautifully preserved 1794 Half Penny Hampshire British token (D&H 55) honoring a John Howard who was a common man who single handedly reformed prison conditions not only in England, but throughout Europe. I'll post the obverse of the token first, quote some research of history about Howard next, then talk about the stunning reverse!



A Bit of History:

Howard wrote The State of Prisons that was not only groundbreaking in terms of prison reform, but was a monument to John Howard's ability to be thorough, detailed and constructive. It includes a general study of the distress in prisons, proposed improvements, a detailed analysis of prison conditions and statistical tables. Parliament passed two more prison Acts, in 1778 and 1781. Aware that making it law doesn't automatically ensure the changes will be made quickly, Howard continued touring the prisons of England and Europe. He not only collected information about conditions, but revisited many to monitor the progress of reforms (Godber, 1977, pp.10-11). For the next several years, John Howard worked ceaselessly, making five more tours of European prisons, as well as visiting those in England. He kept up with his responsibilities at his Cardington estate as well. Health matters concerned him increasingly, inspiring him to publish a second book in 1789 on Lazarettos - the plague ships.​

His stamina became legendary. It was hard to imagine that he was once a sickly, delicate youth. He could ride 40 miles a day, needed little sleep and could withstand considerable heat and cold. On one of his trips to Ireland he gave up his berth to a maid servant and slept on deck. He maintained his simple vegetarian diet of fruit, vegetables, bread and milk or tea. One of the reasons he chose traveling by horseback was to disperse the bad odours from the jail he had been visiting, although he took pains to change his clothes as soon afterwards as possible. In 1786 he even traveled to Venice on a plague-infested ship in order to observe firsthand the conditions on a Lazaretto (Godber, 1977, pp.11-12). However, his spartan regimen cannot account for all of his extraordinary ability to withstand the physical demands, pestilence and filth of his prison tours. His friends observed that by this time John Howard possessed an air of purpose, serenity and vigor that seemed to surround him like a magic cloak. Howard himself wrote, "Being in the way of my duty, I fear no evil" (Godber, 1977, p.12).

http://www.johnhoward.ab.ca/PUB/C3.htm

The Token's Reverse

While the whole token is in amazing condition for something this old, the reverse has some stunning very fine die polish lines going every which way.



The reverse show the arms of the town of Portsmouth. The tower has the arms of Chichester which is in Sussex.

I wish I could show this one in person....it is truly a stunner and I am not the best photographer. In any case, I hope you enjoyed seeing this piece from afar!

 

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Stunning! That is a super nice piece. Congrats.

 

how can that be red? It defies thermodynamics.

 

nice coin

 

Well, more precisely, it is ORANGE! :rolling:

 

unless it was in a vacuum, maybe it was, it should be brown...

 

Catbert...I like it...know little about it except that I Like it a lot!!


RickieB

 

That is a very, very, very, very, very good thing.

 

And i could not agree more!

Bravo, Bravo Catbert for your post, and for making known to us the life of such an exemplary man. I don't know if am more impressed by the deeds of John Howard, or by this token commemorating his life and work. Specially in times like the ones we are now living, when we are reaping the seeds of what unlimited greed and selfishness can do, it is refreshing and inspiring to read such stories!

With regards,

Eduard

 

Very nice, I love old copper, and the story behind that one is great !!!
Congrats !

 

900fine:
I just noticed your quote under your postings:
Number of Americans that died in France on D-Day : 2,500

Number of French that died in France on D-Day : 19

As a side note: did you know that the 19 French all died of old age?

 

What a fantastic token ! and a nice bit of history.

 

Isn't that a fine piece of history and a fine looking piece.
On another note, this is all making sence to me now.
In Canada, we have the John Howard Society that helps people get settled once they have been released from prison.
Would you mind me asking where you acquired the piece and a ball-park figure of how much it is worth? Mintage #'s as well?

 

That piece is fabulous

 

These pieces were often created for collectors during the time, and many of them were preserved because of cool, dry storage. As a collecting venue, it is far easier to find choice examples of Conders than any other period in history - they were produced in many varieties etc.

 

Great find!!

great read too!!!!

 

YES! Precisely! The link I posted after the quote came from this Canadian organization.

I purchased this token from a trusted dealer I've used for many of my tokens - Jerry Bobbe of cheapside tokens. The price was $279. This is considered to be a General Trade Token and is common in rarity with 103,000 made. What drives the price in this case is not rarity, but condition.

Here are the seller's pics (I like mine better ) and description:



Here is his listing description:

Gem Razor Sharp Red Unc; the reverse essentially perfect. There is amazing first-strike die polish all over the place, which greatly adds to the visual appeal and brilliance of this fabulous condition token. It is also incredibly instructive for those of us who are sensitive to human caused hairlines. Here, the polish flashes this way and that as the token is gently rotated by the viewer. Only by close inspection do all the thousands of parallel criss-crossing lines in the fields reveal themselves to be as made, as absolutely none cross over any of the legends or devices. It helps that Cheapside has viewed two other identically surfaced Hampshire 55's in the past year, which positively confirm the first-strike diagnostics; here the freshest we have seen. Pretty neat!

 

Which one would be truer to color ?

 

I think my pics are very accurate. My history with this seller is that the tokens are much better in hand than their pics represent. His description of condition is very accurate.

 

I always love it when I'm blasted by a coin in hand that I previously bought online with a junky picture