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JETTON
Unique ID: WILT-BC183B
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Awaiting validation 
A copper alloy 'Venus penny' stock jetton of the Low Countries, c.1490s-1550s, Mitchiner 844.
The 'Venus pennies' were a popular series of jettons, or reckoning counters, that were made for the merchants of Antwerp during a period when this city was the flourishing principal commerical centre of the land, and were circulated amongst the merchant classes during the first half of the sixteenth century. The circulation in London, from finds along the Thames foreshore, is restricted to the general period from the 1480s to the 1550s. But the design of the figure of Venus is modelled on official jetons of Philip le Beau, or Philip I of Castile (1478-1506) from the 1490s.
Obverse description: Austro-Burgundian shield (1482-1555) in five parts: Austria - 3 horizontal lines, Burgundy modern - 3 lis, Burgundy ancient - 3 oblique lines, Brabant - lion ramparnt with two annulets in field, surmounted by Burgundian emblems in form of steel and spark either side
Obverse inscription:
Reverse description: Woman holding a spray of three flowers, two rosettes and a central fleur de lis, in raised right hand, and a large petalled flower in lowered left hand, with rosette in left and right field
Reverse inscription: [...]VIII[...]
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 1490
Date to: Circa AD 1559
Dimensions and weight
Quantity: 1
Weight: 2.85 g
Diameter: 30.35 mm
Personal details
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Other reference numbers
Other reference: SSWM 4490
Materials and construction
Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Struck or hammered
Completeness: Complete
Jetton / token data
Class: Low Countries
Group: Venus penny
Type: (M824-851) - Unknown: c. 1490 - c. 1550
Denomination: Jetton
Obverse description: Austro-Burgundian shield (1482-1555) in five parts: Austria - 3 horizontal lines, Burgundy modern - 3 lis, Burgundy ancient - 3 oblique lines, Brabant - lion ramparnt with two annulets in field, surmounted by Burgundian emblems in form of steel and spark either side
Obverse inscription: [...]VII[...]
Reverse description: Woman holding a spray of three flowers, two rosettes and a central fleur de lis, in raised right hand, and a large petalled flower in lowered left hand, with rosette in left and right field
Die axis measurement: 9 o'clock
Spatial metadata
Region: South West (European Region)County or Unitary authority: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
District: Wiltshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish or ward: Stratford Toney (Civil Parish)
Spatial coordinates
4 Figure: SU0826
Four figure Latitude: 51.03330807
Four figure longitude: -1.88728748
1:25K map: SU0826
1:10K map: SU02NE
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
References cited
No references cited so far.
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Timeline of associated dates
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