MEDALLION

Copper alloy medallion. A disc with hand-engraved decoration and legend on both sides, made from a rubbed down copper coin.

Obverse description: Legend on three lines: ORDERY / APPLEYARD / 1800, date is in an oval frame of feathered effect rendered with diagonal hatching in alternating directions.

Reverse description: Legend, over six lines:

MOTHER MY

TRUST IS IN

GOD AND I WILL

NOT FEAR WHAT

MEN CAN DO

UNTO ME

Above the legend is a flower with paired leaves, again textured with fine diagonal strokes, and below it a pair of leaves or feathers in the same style.

The spirit of the text conforms to that of private Nonconformist devotion, perhaps when facing straitened circumstances, but unusually it does not appear to be drawn from Scripture. As the object is not perforated for suspension it was perhaps carried as a keepsake.

Paul Cannon kindly contributes the following note, identifying the object as a 'convict love token', as follows:

'I wonder if this piece is what is generally known as a convict love token. Ordery or Audrey Appleyard was a female convict who was one of 296 convicts transported to Australia on the Earl Cornwallis in August 1800 See http://www.convictrecords.com.au/convicts/appleyard/audrey/82717 She married a John Gowen who was one of the earliest settlers of Australia and had several children by him before her death in 1819 see http://www.fffsouthcoast.50g.com/history.htm If the convict and person on the token are the same the inscription on the reverse makes sense and matches the sentimental inscriptions on other convict tokens. The National Museum of Australia has the world's largest collection of such convict tokens but not this one see http://www.nma.gov.au/collections-search/results?search=adv&type=Convict+love+tokens'

Given this precise and personal reference, and a relationship with similar material held by the National Museum of Australia, this object is considered a 'find of note'.

Diameter: 26.5mm, Thickness: 1.2mm, Weight: 4.50gms.

Numismatic data

No numismatic data has been recorded for this coin yet.