File:Post Medieval medal; touchpiece of Queen Anne (FindID 938434).jpg

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Post Medieval medal; touchpiece of Queen Anne
Photographer
The Portable Antiquities Scheme, Helena Costas, 2019-02-27 17:08:33
Title
Post Medieval medal; touchpiece of Queen Anne
Description
English: Description: A milled gold touchpiece medal/coin from the reign of Queen Anne (1702-1714AD).

The touch-piece is pierced at 12 o'clock of the obverse. Obverse: Ship going left. Obverse Legend: ANNA.D.G.M.BR.FET.H.REG. Reverse: George and dragon. Reverse Legend: SOLI.DEO.GLORIA.

Measurements: 21 mm in diameter, and 2.84g in weight.

Discussion:Touchpiece used in the ceremony of 'Touching for the King's Evil', a disease of the lymph glands, also known as scrofula, which was popularly believed to be cured if the monarch touched the sufferer. The custom began in France under the crusader-king, St Louis IX (1226-70). When Edward III of England (1327-77) laid claim to the throne of France as the surviving grandson of Philip IV, through his mother Isabella, he also began touching for the King's Evil. Each sufferer was given a token or touchpiece, pierced so that it could be worn on a ribbon round the neck. From the reign of Edward IV this was usually an angel, a gold coin worth 6s 8d, depicting St Michael slaying the dragon on one side, and a ship under sail on the other. The angel continued as a currency issue until the reign of Charles I, but was not revived after the Restoration. However, gold tokens, still depicting St Michael and the ship, were produced specifically for those touched by Charles II and James II. William and Mary declined to perform the ceremony, but Queen Anne revived it. One of her last 'touchings' was of Samuel Johnson, born in 1709, who in later years remembered the Queen as 'a lady in diamonds, and a long black hood.' Although the Hanoverian kings did not continue the custom, the Jacobite Stuarts did, but their touchpieces were silver.

The gold used to make these medals was 22 carat fineness.

As a gold medal with no monetary function, a touch-piece would fall within the purview of the Treasure Act and at least one has passed through the system in this way already; eg. YORYM-B32610 (2015 T176), and KENT-05E6BE 2016 T605.

An identical touch-piece can be seen on the Royal Collection Trust website, number RCIN 443192

Conclusion: It is therefore thought that this medal dates to before 1716. As the object is made of gold and is over 300 years old, it constitutes potential Treasure under the stipulations of The Treasure Act 1996.

Depicted place (County of findspot) Windsor and Maidenhead
Date between 1702 and 1714
date QS:P571,+1750-00-00T00:00:00Z/7,P1319,+1702-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1714-00-00T00:00:00Z/9
Accession number
FindIdentifier: 938434
Credit line
The Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) is a voluntary programme run by the United Kingdom government to record the increasing numbers of small finds of archaeological interest found by members of the public. The scheme started in 1997 and now covers most of England and Wales. Finds are published at https://finds.org.uk
Source https://finds.org.uk/database/ajax/download/id/1047431
Catalog: https://finds.org.uk/database/images/image/id/1047431/recordtype/artefacts archive copy at the Wayback Machine
Artefact: https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/record/id/938434
Permission
(Reusing this file)
Attribution License version 2.0 (verified 4 December 2020)

Licensing

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w:en:Creative Commons
attribution
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Attribution: The Portable Antiquities Scheme
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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current15:42, 3 December 2020Thumbnail for version as of 15:42, 3 December 20202,802 × 1,590 (2.2 MB) (talk | contribs)Portable Antiquities Scheme, BERK, FindID: 938434-1047431, post medieval, page 555, batch count 941

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