Hulme, Sweet Hulme

Tokens turn up in all shapes and sizes, and they’re often found mixed in with old copper coinage – which makes them one of the best “accidental discoveries” in collecting.

This group is a cracking example of how tokens can act as miniature time-capsules for everyday life.

The first is a days shooting token, featuring a woodcock above crossed rifles. The crossed rifles detail is especially nice – it’s the classic marksman badge motif, instantly tying the piece to shooting culture and rural sport.

Then we have a token linked to Lancashire, Hulme, Manchester: the White House Hotel and Pleasure Gardens. Dating to the 1830s, it reflects a time when guests could be offered shooting rights in what is now inner-city Manchester – which feels pretty surreal today! The public house itself closed in 1882 and was later demolished, leaving the token as one of the few tangible traces of a vanished leisure spot.

Finally, there’s a wonderfully Victorian promotional piece: a one penny Glow-worm Pictorial Newspaper token, c.1860, showing a glowing worm. The paper’s proprietor, William Wybrow Robertson, had a life that reads like a novel – civil service in Bombay, management at London’s Royal Aquarium Theatre, and four marriages across a long career.