Rights Holder: Surrey County Council
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TOY
Unique ID: SUR-68EA74
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
An incomplete post Medieval (18th century) cast lead alloy "shycock" target in the form of a bird depicted facing right with wings folded, details of feathers, a small pellet eye and a slashed line mouth. The legs and tail are incomplete; originally it would have stood on an integrally cast base. The model is only detailed on the front side, suggesting it was intended to be viewed from this side only.
For comparable examples see Forsyth & Egan (2005), p240 and on the database (e.g. WMID-7DB0AE, DENO-74C933 and BERK-8DD525).
Notes:
This relates to a popular childhood pastime of Georgian England where where tokens (or 'dumps') were thrown at a cast lead model of a cockerel; the winner being the one who toppled the lead bird target. The winner claimed the bird, the losers lost their tokens. This practice in turn may have developed from a rural tradition of a century earlier, associated with Shrove Tuesdays, where lead dumps were thrown at a live bird suspended above the ground in a pot; the individual who smashed the pot and brought the bird to the ground being able to keep it as a reward (Fletcher, 2005).
Subsequent actions
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Chronology
Broad period: POST MEDIEVAL
Period from: POST MEDIEVAL
Period to: POST MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1700
Date to: Circa AD 1800
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Length: 40.3 mm
Height: 28 mm
Thickness: 2.3 mm
Weight: 9 g
Discovery dates
Date(s) of discovery: Thursday 17th June 2021
Personal details
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Materials and construction
Primary material: Lead Alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Incomplete
Spatial metadata
Region: South East (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Hampshire (County)
District: Test Valley (District)
Parish or ward: Houghton (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU3335
Four figure Latitude: 51.11334764
Four figure longitude: -1.52995216
1:25K map: SU3335
1:10K map: SU33NW
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 1 metre square.
References cited
| Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fletcher, E. | 2003 | Tokens and Tallies | Essex | Greenlight Publishing | |||
| Forsyth, H. with Egan, G. | 2005 | Toys, Trifles and Trinkets: Base Metal Miniatures from London 1200 to 1800 | London | Unicorn Press Ltd |
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Timeline of associated dates
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