I confess I'm not a collector, but googling about a copper token I have has got me this far and Coin Chat seems the best place to find out more. I'm sorry I've no photo. The token is a mule of with the London Corresponding Society on one side and the Anti-Slavery society on the other. There are no words on the edge, it seems to have been filed down or something. The Anti-Slavery side has the dove with olive branch, the words 'United for the reform of Parliament' and dated 1795. The LCS side has the words 'London Corresponding Society' and a group of people - a bearded man and two women with a third woman who has gathered her robe up to hold something. On the ground is what looks like a log, or maybe a quiver. Can anyone tell me more? Also would it matter if I cleaned it? Thanks Gilly
OK this is not a mule, it is actually the Corresponding Society's token. It is a Conder token from Middlesex and is either a Middlesex 285 or 286. On 285 the L of LONDON is clearly separated from the mans robe, while on 286 it is almost touching it. 285 is not listed with a plain edge, but 286 does come with one as 286e. The obv die only come on these two tokens and on 287 and 288 which are mules created by William Lutwyche for sale to collectors. The rev die comes on these two and on 289 which is a mule (This is the mule with the anti slavery society die) made by Peter Skidmore also for sale to collectors. The 286e is rated as a scarce token. On the Sheldon rartity scale call it an R-4 76 - 200 estimated to exist. If it had been a 285 then it would have been a very rare piece with 13 to 30 known. Unfortunately I don't have any information on who engraved the dies, who did the striking, or the mintage, but two of the edge pairings for 286 are very common so the mintage was probably around a ton or 103,000 pieces. The London Corresponding Society was a group of mainly learned men who advocated for a major reform of Parliment. To a large extent they were considered, by the government, to be rabble rousers, spreaders of sedition, and sympathizers of the French revolution who wanted to see it spread to England. The "log" on the ground is a fasces, standard symbol of government, especially elected governments, since at least the time of the Romans. Laying on the ground? Possibly a symbolic way of indicating a desire for the overtrown of the existing government.
