Very Rare Silver Bookplate – Dated 1763

Both American and English bookplate examples made of silver are known, and both are extremely rate.  While most book dealers know of them, few have even handled them.  They were obviously used by only wealthy people of prominance at the time.

This example is fully hand engraved, inscribed in Latin, and dated 1763.  It reads as follows: “This book  D.D. (donum dedit, i.e. a gift he/she gave) Theresa Wakeman of Aldridge in county of Staffordshire.”  The engraving includes a cross and cherubs and thus was possibly used on the master bible.  The Wakeman’s in Staffordshire were an important and wealthy English family.

Special Note:

Special thanks to avid bookplate collector Lew Jaffe, who runs a bookplate blog ( http://bookplatejunkie.blogspot.com ), and one of his bookplate contacts in England, who has provided some excellent extra background information as follows:

The bookplate is now housed within an early style frame to display it upon a wall to enjoy.  

The bookplate’s size is 2 5/8″  x  1 15/16″ and the framed is 8″  x  6 7/8″.

A1045H     –     THD

Very Early Magnifying Glass – Rare – Circa 1680-1720

Extremely early magnifying glasses of this type and style were also called quizzing glasses, and they were used as a reading aid before the invention of eyeglasses in 1727.

Nuremberg, Germany was the main center of production of early lenses for scientific and medical use, and this quizzing glass most likely originated from there.  Quizzing glass lenses were thick, heavy and fragile, and the metal wire handles were fragile as well.  To protect them they were sold with a paper carrying case.  They were sent from Germany throughout the known world, and would have been imported and used within America at that early time as well.  

This example would date to circa 1680-1720, and it is a rare survivor of the period, with its original 17th century lens which only enhibits very minor chipping near its retention ring.  A completely intact original wire handle, with traces of its original silvering on the inside edges, is present as well as the main portion of the original paper covered cardstock case with gilt tool decoration.  The cover of the case is long missing.

Seldom encountered, this is an opportunity to acquire an early example of optometric history.

Size is 4 1/4″ long  x  2 3/8″ diameter

1380     –     NHI

Bender Love Tokens

“Bender” love tokens were a traditional way for a young man to show his love for a young lady in England, with the majority of  them found dating  from the 17th through the mid-19th centuries, and their peak use appearing to be in the mid to late 18th century  They were usually accomplished using a silver sixpence coin as it was a thin coin and had some value.  Most of the time they were a fairly well used coin taken directly from common circulation.

A young man would put two bends in the coin and give it to his young lady as a show of his love for her.  If she decided to keep and treasure it, then he was a happy young man!  If she threw it away, it was time for the young man to move on…  It is thought that the old nursery rhyme about a man finding a “crooked sixpence” was referring to a discarded bender love token.

Many examples of English sixpence are found with the bends straightened, supposedly by the same young woman who thought it much more prudent to straighten the coin to spend rather than throw it away, or possibly by a descendant who might have inherited it.

Early high condition bender love tokens are not faked, as an original early high condition coin that was never bent is much more desirable to a coin collector.

Scarce and Superb Silver Penny Bender Love Token – circa 1592-1595

This “Bender” love token was made from an Elizabeth I silver one penny coin!  Yes, at one time even penny coins had to be made out of higher precious metals to be accepted by the population as coins.  Because it is of silver, it is a very small coin, and due to the lack of any wear, this coin was nearly new when chosen to become a Bender.  Scarce because this is an unusual denomination for a Bender love token as typically they were sixpences, and rare because of the coin’s condition.  Most Elizabeth I coins are found very worn.  At this very early time period these coins were not made by powered presses on pre-cut blank discs, they were instead hand hammered between two dies, and are thus reffered to as “hammered coinage”.  This would be an excellent example to be taken to a jeweler and made into a pendant, while preserving the coin itself, and would make an attention getting gift for a loved one today just as it once did for a lady more than four hundred years ago!

Size is 1/2 ” diameter  or 12 millimeters, and it weighs 0.5 grams (.02 troy ounce)

A1366H     -     MHR 

Scarce Gold Quarter Guinea Love Token – Dated 1762

This bender love token was made from a gold quarter guinea English coin.  Any any early benders made from gold coins are quite scarce since they would have been used as such by only very wealthy individuals.  In 1762 a quarter guinea would have been the equivalent to about three weeks average wages.  This particular example has seen little circulation wear, and thus would have become a bender shortly after it was minted.  Gold quarter guineas coins were also only minted in two different years, 1718 and 1762, only being struck in those years due to a shortage of silver at the time.  Taken to a jeweler and carefully made into a pendant for a loved one today, it would start many conversations and get noticed.

Size is 5/8 ” diameter (16 millimeters) and it weighs 2.1 grams  (0.007 troy ounce)

A1349H     -     NHF

Execution Broadsides – Early 19th Century

Up through the late 19th century many executions for crimes were public events, with the original intention of discouraging other people from committing similar acts.  They rapidly became an pastime outing, not only for individuals and couples, but for families as well.  Observers often arrived well in advance of the scheduled execution time to secure a place with a good view.

It didn”t take long for various vendors to seize upon the opportunity provided by a large number of the public gathered into one place.  One outgrowth of this retail opportunity was the printing of Execution Broadsides, sometimes referred to as Murder Broadsides.  These large sheets of paper were normally sold to the crowds for a penny apiece, and were printed on very thin stock to keep the cost as low as possible.

These  broadsides provided background on the scheduled execution, including details of the victim, the crime and the convicted felon.  They often printed the final words, and sometimes even the full final confessions, of the condemned person as they stood there on the gallows, and all this was written and printed a day or two prior to the actual scheduled event.  Some included graphic woodblock illustrations, which grew from the use of stock printing blocks to large and very dramatic images produced specifically for the particular execution, as it was quickly realized by the printers that the more graphic and shocking the illustratiosn the more copies that could be sold.  The stories grew astonishing as well, from the simple record of the facts early on all the way to elaborate fiction that would rival the best tabloid headlines and stories seen at the grocery store.

As these very thinly printed broadsides were intended to be thrown away after the execution, nearly all the surviving examples have been attached by early collectors to a sturdier piece of paper or card stock  to give them stabilitiy and prevent any loss.  

It appears that these execution broadsides originated in England and became popular there before they moved to America, as American versions are seldom seen and those encountered have only a simple illustration.  Although they are more available, the English versions seen here are still very scarce, and one doesn’t often come across them in the ephemera and document market.  Their value is dependant on date and condition, but more importantly the elaborateness of both the illustrations and the copy contained with the text.  Each of these broadsides are worthy of framing for display, as they provide a look into our past ideas and methods of justice.

Execution Broadside – Six Malefactors Executed at the Old Bailey – 1814

Accounts of six different criminals sentenced to execution, five for stealing money and/or silverpalte, and one for forging a banknote.  Dated in ink at upper right August 22nd, 1814.  It has been glued along the four edges to a heavier stock.  Contact us for scans of the body copy to enable reading of the entire broadside.

Size is 13 3/4″  x  8 1/4″

A2235H     -     MTIH

Execution Broadside – George Batty – Dated 1825

Execution of George Batty for “ravishing” Miss Martha Hawesly.  The headline on this one says it all.  Dated 1825, and glued along the four edges to heavier stock.  Contact us for scans of the body copy to enable reading of the entire broadside.

Size is 14 1/2″  x  9 3/4″

A2236H     -     MHHD

Execution Broadside Style – Story of John Marlew – circa 1820′s

A broadside with the story of John Marlew who ended up drowning himself and three children in a well, and with a highly graphic woodcut illustration of events.  Since Marlew was already dead and couldn’t be hanged for this crime, this was published and sold as a crime recounting and done in execution broadside style.   Appears to be a highly flaymboyant and exaggerated accounting probably only partially based upon an actual event, and that was produced to attract broad attention of the curious to sell broadsides.  Glued along the edges to heavier stock.  Contact us for scans of the body copy to enable reading of the entire broadside.

Size is 14 1/2″  x  9 3/4″

A2233H     -     MIHD

Execution Broadside – For the Willful Murder of Mrs. Browning – 1835

Highly graphic broadside with four different images and the story of a soldier who stabbed Mrs. Elizabeth Browning, an inn owner, with his rifle bayonet over 40 times because she turned down his romantic advances earlier in the day.  Dated 1835 and glued along the edges to heaver paper stock .  Contact us for scans of the body copy to enable reading of the entire broadside.

Size is 14 3/4″  x  9 3/4″

A2232H     -     NDND