Found while metal detecting, this William 3rd shilling which probably dates to the late 1690s has been inscribed with decoration and letters on one side only. It appears to read F Hirp or F Hire which might be someone's name. A friend suggested that it might be some sort of convict or love token. The decoration looks almost bell or ship keel shaped. Any ideas?
Fascinating find! Yes, love token, though I wouldn't say convict token unless you're Down Under. The decoration does look vaguely bell shaped, or vaguely axe head shaped, was my thought, but I don't think it's necessarily either of those things. More likely just a shape of some kind. Of what, is a fun mystery.
True, but I would imagine some older host coins like a Wm3 shilling could still have been used in the Australian convict transportation era. Here in America one tends to forget that people were sentenced to transportation here. I recall reading such a story in Ken Follett's A Place Called Freedom.
Very true. I had always considered that the coin would have been contemporary with any associated transportation, but maybe not.
The coin is so worn that it could have been used as an Australian convict token, but I don't think it is. Pretty crude for a love token too. Really no guess as to what it actually is. Bruce
