Antwerp Charity Token

Discussion in 'World Coins' started by fretboard, Mar 8, 2015.

  1. fretboard

    fretboard Defender of Old Coinage!

    I think this token here is from Ireland, don't have any pics of my Ireland coins but I know I have some, I'll get around to taking some pics !B1uFZ!g!Wk~$(KGrHqN,!jEE)sB641YpBMfoPQYDF!~~_35.jpg !B1uFh)gCWk~$(KGrHqR,!joE)pl98nYbBMfoPo28qw~~_35.jpg soon. wave.gif

    Edit @fretboard - Moved these posts to a separate topic.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 12, 2015
    chrisild and J.A.K. like this.
  2. Avatar

    Guest User Guest



    to hide this ad.
  3. H8_modern

    H8_modern Attracted to small round-ish art

    I was curious so I googled this token. Only seems to be one source in multiple eBays and they call it a jeton from Belgium. I was thinking the inscription seemed Welsh but I'd love to hear from someone who knows what it is.
     
  4. chrisild

    chrisild Coin Collector

    Lots of sources besides eBay. ;) But the token does have an interesting background. On one side you see the name of the "issuing bishop", with a miter above and the date below. The other side says Weldaedigheyd which apparently refers to the "Bureel van Weldaedigheyd" (Charity Office) in the diocese. The language is Dutch, but a 200 year old version ...

    Back then, the city of Antwerp was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands; today it is the capital of Flanders, Belgium. Poor people who on Sundays attended "Catechism" would afterwards get such a token that they could then use to buy bread. What is peculiar is that the name of the bishop does not match the year on the token: Jacob T. J. Wellens was bishop in the 1770s and 80s, and founded that charity. A while after the French rule, citizens set it up again, hence the 1823 date.

    Some information in Dutch is here: atmikes.be (with image) - rijksmuseum.nl (partly English, w/o image) - description in an old book.

    Christian
     
    BRandM likes this.
  5. Sullykerry2

    Sullykerry2 Humble Collector Willing to Learn

Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page