A penny from the rec

Today we look at a penny which is getting on for 200 years old. It was found by metal detectorist Norman on the old recreation ground in Market Lavington.

Reverse of 1823 penny found on the old Recreation Ground in Market Lavington

As we can see this is an 1823 penny and in remarkably good order.

King George III was on the throne at the time

The king at that time was George III. He had a long reign of almost 60 years but by the time this coin was minted he was old and suffering from the mental illness that made people deem him insane. His son had been the effective monarch for years as the prince Regent.

Now the finding of an 1823 coin doesn’t mean the coin was lost in 1823. Our curator recalls that in his 1950s childhood pennies were still in circulation with Queen Victoria’s old head on them. They dated from the 1890s so they were more than 50 years old. But he also recalls that these old pennies were very worn, with writing and images almost worn away. With the condition of this coin, it suggests it wasn’t all that old when it was lost. As this is one amongst quite a goodly collection of coins from before Victoria’s reign it does suggest that the old rec was in use for more than just agriculture at least back into the mid-19^th century.

For those who like these things, somebody who earned that penny back in 1823 would today earn more than £5 for the same work. It wasn’t lost lightly.

 

Lavington Boys’ Club

Let’s start with the question. Can anyone out there tell me anything about Lavington Boys’ Club?

You see, this badge is another find from the old recreation ground.

Lavington Boys’ Club badge found on the old Recreation Ground

This clearly says Lavington Boys’ Club and has the initials LBC on the gold centre. We couldn’t be certain but we think the other marks in the centre are just damage.

This is a button hole badge for wearing on the lapel of a jacket.

This lapel badge was made by W O Lewis of Birmingham

We can see its fastening (presumably not quite adequate) and also that it was made by W O Lewis Badges of Birmingham. That’s a company with a long and continuing history. It was founded in 1832 and is still in operation now, more than 180 years on and still run by members of the founding family. That’s great for them but does little to help us date the badge.

Do get in touch if you can tell us anything about this club.

 

The Primrose League

The Primrose League was a political association attached to one political party – the Conservatives. This item is about a metal detector find. Writing about it does not mean that we support the aims of any single party. We try to deal in historical fact as far as possible.

The primrose was well known to be Benjamin Disraeli’s favourite flower. Disraeli was twice Prime Minister between 1868 and 1880. Queen Victoria was particularly fond of Disraeli and sent a wreath of primroses (picked at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight) to his funeral.

The Primrose League was established with the aim of spreading the Conservative message in Great Britain. It was founded in 1883, a couple of years after Disraeli’s death. It was active until the 1990s and was finally wound up in 2004.

Not surprisingly, the primrose was used as a badge for members of the league and one such badge was found by metal detectorist Norman on the old recreation ground in Market Lavington.

Primrose League badge – probably of pre 1920 type – found on the old recreation ground in Market Lavington

This button hole badge has a stylised primrose in yellow enamel (quite a bit is missing) and a monogram of the letters P and L set in it.

The button hole clip is embossed Primrose League Official Badge

The back of the button hole fastening is embossed with the words ‘PRIMROSE LEAGUE OFFICIAL BADGE’.

This badge is 21 millimetres across which we think makes it date from before 1920.

Just possibly this was lost at a Conservative Demonstration we have shown on this blog. Click here to see that post.

A Red Cross badge

Today we look at another item found by local metal detectorist, Norman, on the old recreation ground. It is a Red Cross Badge.

British Red Cross Society Badge found on the old recreation ground in Market Lavington

This, as we see, is a British Red Cross Society button badge and in remarkably good order for something found in the ground.

The badge measures about 2cm in diameter as we can see in this shot of the back.

The back of the badge

The badge is made by J R Gaunt of Birmingham.

Maker’s name

We are not certain of the age of such a badge. Maybe somebody ‘out there’ can help.

 

Sing a song of sixpences

Our local metal detectorist found quite a few pre 1971 sixpence coins or tanners as they were affectionately known as. They all come from the old recreation ground. Here’s a sample to show changes.

Some 6d coins found on the old recreation ground in Market Lavington

These coins were known as ‘silver’ unlike the penny and ha’penny which were ‘coppers’. In times past they were probably made of silver metal but silver content was gradually reduced over the years. The oldest coin there, the one at top left, dates from 1923 and features a lion and crown on the reverse side which we show here. It has retained its silver colour so will have some silver content. The second coin at top right dates from 1929 and still has silver. It has an oak leaf and acorn pattern on the back. These coins are fifty percent silver. In the front row we start with a 1942 coin. This is still a 50% silver coin but by 1949, the next coin, all silver content had gone. The coin, like the last one form 1958 is cupro-nickel and both have tarnished in the ground. The 1958 coin shows the plant emblems of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. None of these coins have much cash value but they had actual value back then. A person who earned sixpence in 1958 would earn about £1.54 now – an annoying amount to lose. In connection with other finds they start to paint a picture of the way the old recreation ground was used. It was certainly a place where money changed hands and got lost as well.

A Home Field find

The Home Field was the name given to the field which is situated behind the houses on Shires Close. Once upon a time it was used as the village recreation ground and we have posts on this blog which show all sorts going on there including cricket, football (well, a goal post) and political rallies. People remember circuses, fairs, carnivals etc all taking place on this field. These were occasions where crowds of people met up and, inevitably, things get lost.

Step in a metal detectorist, with permission from the owner. A staggering collection of twentieth century coins has been found and also other items and these have very recently been donated to the museum. We’ll take a look at one such item today.

A cricket motif item found on the Home Field in Market Lavington

This piece of non-ferrous metal obviously has a cricket connection.

This measures some 6½ centimetres across and 5½ centimetres from top to bottom. It clearly depicts a couple of cricket bats, a cricket ball (even the seam is shown) and three stumps. They are not all scaled to match. Damage has been clearly suffered with both bats looking just a tad battered.

If we look at the back we can see this is a thin sheet of metal with the shapes just pressed into it.

This was cheaply made out of non-ferrous metal

There’s no obvious method in which this has been fastened to anything and so no obvious purpose for this item.

Our guess, and it is no more than a guess, was that this may have been attached in some way to a cricket bag – one of those large bags for holding cricket gear.

We can’t begin to put a date on this but it is most probably twentieth century.

We seek further help can you tell us anything more about this? We’d like to get an age and original purpose for this item.

 

German jetons

Let’s start with an extract from Wikipedia. Yes, we know it can’t be 100% relied upon, but it has become a good starting point when you want to know about something. And it can tell us what a jeton is.

Jetons were token or coin-like medals produced across Europe from the 13th through the 17th centuries. They were produced as counters for use in calculation on a lined board similar to an abacus. They also found use as a money substitute in games, similar to modern casino chips or poker chips. Thousands of different jetons exist, mostly of religious and educational designs, as well as portraits, these most resembling coinage. (The spelling “jeton” is from the French; the English spell it “jetton”.)

So, jetons (or jettons) are counters or gaming chips. We have a collection of 16^th century German jetons at Market Lavington Museum.

What it says on the label – German Jetons from the 1500s

They were found on the Home Field – the former recreation ground – and it could suggest that gambling took place in the area. Why they were from Germany we don’t know but we can see these tokens do have a coin like appearance.

You can see these and many other items in our ‘Lost and Found’ display which was all new for this year.