Finally, I have bought the piece I’ve always wanted

It is a 1797 Conder token, catalogued in the Dalton and Hamer reference book as from the county of Middlesex 906. For 18th Century English Provincial token collectors, it is one of the most popular and desired tokens to possess (minimally, at least for this collector) of 1000s of different varieties that can be accumulated! It is considered rare with less than 75 made. Collectors label it the “wild man” token.

It was produced for a merchant by the name of Richard Summers who was located in the West End of London. He was a dealer in curiosities, but also sold perfume (R.C. Bell – Tradesmen’s Tickets and Private Tokens). Unlike some earlier tokens created for small change (in response to the refusal of the King to produce anything but silver and gold pieces), this piece was likely made for contemporary collectors who became fascinated with the craftsmanship of their makers. Here are the seller’s pics (Jerry Bobbe):



The Obverse

It is a man or is it an ape? I could imagine such a figure or mask displayed in Mr. Summer’s shop to entice interest among his customers or to create an ambience of the exotic. The token’s legend reads: “A WILD MANS HEAD FROM THE LAND OF JESSO TO BE SEEN AT” and the statement continues on the reverse. The Land of Jesso was not a real place and can be seen on old maps to represent unexplored or unknown areas. A web reference states:

“…."Jesso" can be said to be a combination of Hokkaido, Sakhalin and southeast Siberia. The indigenous group known as the Ainu are native to both Hokkaido and Sakhalin, so the unfortunate "wild man" was presumably of that ethnic group. The alternative, of course, is that the head wasn't a real human head, and that Mr Summers crafted it himself. He would then have chosen "Jesso", on the far side of the world, because nobody would have known any better to contradict him.” http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=23742

I’ve taken an off angle picture than I think strikes the appropriate “terror” response!



The Reverse

In the middle is Richard Summers’ cypher RS. The outer edge continues the sentence from the obverse with his business address. He advertises that “PAINTINGS BOUGHT SOLD AND EXCHANGED”. Here’s another off angle picture that captures the 100% red (amazing for something this old):



The Pedigree

Another compelling aspect to this piece is its pedigree that I would be remiss in not sharing. It was once owned by Wayne Anderson who was an early copper specialist who assembled an extensive Conder token collection. He commissioned Allan Davisson to auction his collection that was conducted in April 2000 soon after his death from cancer. The auction catalogue states: “Wayne’s goal was to have the finest possible example of each piece he collected. He understood the issues involved – flan, strike, die polishing, flan polishing before the strike, surface, natural color, long term storage effects – and was constantly refining his collection.” He also possessed a major collection of rare marbles and was an expert on custom knives (Davissons Ltd. catalogue - Auction Thirteen, Part II, The Wayne Anderson Collection).

Wayne Anderson was also the founder of the CTCC – the Conder Token Collectors Club, of which I am a member, and its first editor of their quarterly journal.

In a tiny way, I hope to honor his memory by this post.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

WoW what a beauty!

 

Very cool!

 

Very nice and interesting acquisition. (I hope Jerry hasn't "tinkered" with it.)

Welcome back.

 

Would love one too! Jealous but happy for you!


Jim

 

That obverse scares me. :bigeyes:

 

Cat, that's a really interesting piece, and great background on it as well. I've never seen anything like it, very cool!

 

Happy for ya Catbert. Such is the things dreams are made of. Traci

 

Congrats! Amazing and scary, I like it.

 

Catbert, that's just an awesome piece, with a great pedigree! You really ought to post that on CU for Stefanie (Coinsarefun) to see. Congrats!

 

Catbert:
In a word: WOW!

 

Very nice, and thanks for the background.

 

Beautiful Catbert. Congratulations on the acquisition. Wow, is about all I can say.....:high5:

 

Catbert, First, thanks for another really cool post. This is an awesome example.

I'm also a stamp collector and it's much easier in that area to produce envelopes that have postmarks and signitures and various rubber stamps that can show a history. Examples that come to mind are war letters.

This is the most comprehensive "history" I've seen associated with a coin. You're lucky!

Based on what you're saying, that it was created for collectors - so all of these would be in basically UNC condition?

Finally, are there Internet links which would shed more light on these tokens? I'm not in the market, but we can all benefit

Thanks again as I went out on the Internet and explored these things a bit more.

Yet another reason to participate in CoinTalk!

 

Thank you PC and to all for the nice comments.

Regarding condition, many Conder tokens can be found in AU to UNC condition. This is because they were so popular and there were many contemporary collectors who became enamored with their themes (political, social, business, or just their design). The key rub point for the wild man is the nose where one must see the hair or it is probably AU.

Some varieties were heavily used as intended and thus received wear - as small change to lubricate buying and selling or to pay workers during the Industrial Revolution. Others were made for collectors (like mine - although it is considered to be a half penny, with only 75 made, it was not likely to be used as such).

There are not many internet links to share that give a lot of information on Conder tokens. There are several key reference books (expensive and many out of print) that are most useful. The essential catalogue would be Dalton and Hamer's "The Provincial Token - Coinage of the 18th Century". There is a 2004 updated version and it will run you about $185 to acquire. If after that, one wants to go after the out of print references, then the next step in my opinion, is to collect the R.C. Bell books that provide some historical info on each piece. The five for the 18th century will run about $350+ total to acquire depending upon condition. The challenge to collect these is that there is realistically no end to the type. There are thousands of different pieces with different edge inscriptions. I mainly collect by what design strikes my eye along with condition and rarity.

Now, as to an internet link, I think this is a good one to provide you with some background on one of the big names behind the manufacture of many of these pieces:

http://sohomint.info/tokenstory1.html

 

You're not likely to find a heavily worn one, but some were carried as pocketpieces and comme with a little wear and sometimes a bit of damage. There was one in a DNW sale earlier this year that I went after. It was an AU with some rim damage and a scrape on the inscription, but still it was a wildman and they are scarce and popular. So I bid on it heavy. Imagine my delight to find that it hammered down at a fraction of my bid!! Imagine my chagrin when I learned I was not awarded the lot because their website failed to record my bid! (It recorded it well enough to send me confirmation but did not post the bid to the book. I bid on four lots. It posted one of them, kept a record of another but there was no trace of the other two. Three of the four bids were well above the winning bids.) Aggravating as heck. I know errors happen, but that may have been my only chance to get an affordable Wildman.

 

Very nice token:kewl: and a great write up too!

 

Thanks for the great write up, that is a fantastic looking token.

 

Catbird , as always I'm late to the good threads . Fabulous Condor , at first I thought it was a lion , Looks like an ape man or Mr.Hyde .
Wonderful color and surface , amazing for a piece this old . Also a great pedigree and write up as usual . I know I keep saying this but I'm going to get a Condor or two some time , after winning the Lotto of course . Thanks for sharing and welcome back .
Rusty

 

Wow what a piece! I too love Conders and have bought a few nice pieces from Bill McKivor, copperman@thecoppercorner.net. How do I subscribe to the quarterly journal? Would you send details please? Congratulations on a WILD find--and on the fitting tribute to Wayne Anderson.

Best Regards,

George
VDB Coins