2018-03-13 Tue

Isn’t it beautiful to be young and in love? The things we do to express our affection also knows no bounds. Today it might mean posting stories, photos and statuses all over the social media. But in the good old days, it was often expressed through humble love letters, singing of love songs, gifting of flowers and coins that acted as special Love Tokens!

Love tokens are coins which have been hand-engraved after the minting process, often with sentimental messages. For years, love token coins have been carried for luck.

The practice of engraving the coins took place during the late 17th century when some of the coins were crafted by experienced artisans as well as individual amateurs. Two of the most recognisable styles used to mark coins were “pin punching”, a technique involving punching a series of dots using a pointed metal instrument or simply by bending the coin.

The love tokens were also sometimes referred to as ‘crooked coins’ in Britain. Pictured here is a crooked six-pence coin Love Token.

There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile...!

Now suddenly our old nursery rhyme doesn’t seem all weird, isn’t it? If these “Love Tokens” were to be a popular thing back in the day, there would be many old crooked men who would have found a crooked sixpence!

Image Courtesy: Google images