I'm curious about the one. It looks to be made of lead. It's probably made of lead and is 19.7 mm. Notice how the lettering is positioned in relation to the head. I hope posting it here is OK. I didn't know where it should go for sure as I didn't know for sure what it is. Thanks, Mike
I believe that you hit it on the head....ive seen a lot of European game tokens...some with George Washington but they were brass. If it is lead no wonder the game players didn't show effect of lead poisoning. I have alway wondered since I am not from Europe what games these tokens went to....something like board games here in the states. I cant recall but the ones ive seen were marked as such so they wouldn't be used as money .
Certainly looks possible as a gaming counter, although French tokens are something I know little about. To answer @Paddy54 's query about which games they were used for - I have always assumed Whist was the game. It was played avidly by all the middle and upper classes, men but mostly women, right through the 19th century until eventually overtaken by Bridge, which is derived from Whist. See the Jane Austen novels for many mentions of cards being played. Whist was generally played for fun or nominal stakes, so real money would have been too valuable. Besides, in many circles, women were not expected to handle real money!
Thats interesting Paddy...by todays standards ,well knowing that heavy medals can make you sick. I find it ironic that using lead back in the day was very common. I can recall lead soliders "toys" they were hand painted but still leached out the lead. Of course we are talking a different time ... But find it funny of toys I had as a child that I loved to play with were very dangerous. And again by todays standards such toys would be pulled from the market. Im sure this token wasn't for a childs game . Thanks for the infromation.
