I've just acquired this on a bit of a whim, as I do sometimes with coins, however, I'm having difficulty in pinning down exactly what it is. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
I'm going to go with contemporary 18th Century gaming token. From looking at the portrait alone, it is clear to me that this object or token was not meant to try and fool the populous. And the date of what looks like 1773 is another giveaway that it was not meant to be used in circulation as Queen Anne died nearly 60 years prior.
Thank you for your swift answer. I tend to agree with you. When I saw it this was my first thought. What attracted me was that it wasn't the usual spade guinea gaming token and also the fantastic condition it is in. I've spent quite a while online this evening trying to track down a similar example but haven't managed to find another like it.
Yes, a vintage gaming counter, late 18th century. Compare this group from a 2016 DNW auction (hammer £200):
But htose from the DNW auction are better overall quality than the one he posted, which is why I suspect it is a much more recent "copy".
Yes, I agree. Probably very late 20th century, or even up to current date. Definitely not contemporary to 18th century production.
I too agree on the gambling token. Incidentally the the October issue of The Numismatist (ANA magazine) has a well done article of concerning gambling tokens.
The group you have posted appear to all be contemporary to the late 18th century, but the OP's item is a more recently made product- most likely produced within the last 50 years, as has already been stated by several of us here. I just wanted to go into a little more detail with this post. If you look closely at the items in your picture and compare to the item in question you will notice a marked difference in design quality. Although some of the counters in your photo are not as well executed as others, they still all are superior in overall quality to the op's item. I have seen many modern copies of world coins, tokens, u.s. coins, etc., that all have this same look to them. That look consisting of a very inferior design quality, an artificial colouration and odd toning, often struck on a poor quality "pot metal" planchet, that often has portions of the base metal showing through a poor quality metal plating. Hope my post was helpful in what to look for to determine real vs. fake.