He has been collecting ‘defaced’ coins and tokens for many years and particularly enjoys those with overt political overtones.
Pictured here is a George III silver shilling that was probably modified in 1784. It was the year of the first hot-air balloon flights in Britain (hence the image of a balloon neatly engraved over the king’s head) but also the date of the first parliamentary general election since the American War of Independence.
In the Westminster constituency, Charles James Fox ran in opposition to the incumbent Prime Minister William Pitt (the Elder).
The engraver of this coin makes his loyalties known.
The name Sam House etched either side of the king’s head references another well-known London political figure from the era. A radical publican who supported John Wilkes and then Charles Fox with the rallying cry ‘I am a publican and a Republican’, House renamed his hostelry on Wardour Street in Soho The Intrepid Fox. His easily recognisable figure - fat, bald, uncouth - became shorthand for the mob among Georgian caricaturists.
Cock a snook
Millett’s book on the subject of defaced coins, Tokens of Love, Loss and Disrespect, was published last year.
He explains their appeal. “As a dealer, most of the objects I encounter are the work of the established order - the products of industrial manufacture. Engraved coins are the polar opposite. Far from speaking for the establishment here are coins that voice people’s feelings, regularly at the expense of those in authority.”
