101787 | UNITED STATES. Ball and chain silver Love Token.

101787  |  UNITED STATES. Ball and chain silver Love Token. Engraved on an 1884 Seated Liberty Dime (18mm, 2.02 g, 12h).

 

Lower leg with striped convict-style pants and with ball (marked 50 lbs) and chain latched around ankle; floral-like scroll above and to right / UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Liberty seated right, head left, holding Phrygian cap on pole and resting hand upon union shield. Edge: Reeded. Cf. KM A92 (for host coin).

 

Engraving: Extremely Fine. Lightly toned; Host coin: Choice Very Fine. Holed near the top.

 

Ex Chris Dempsey Collection.

 

Seemingly a more tongue-in-cheek approach at a love token, this piece plays upon the phrase of "ball and chain" and likely points toward the object of the giver rather playfully.

 

Being borrowed from the early 18th century practice in Great Britain, and being related to even earlier forms of engraving on European coinage, "love tokens" were an extremely popular form of sentimental art that saw their high point in the United States in the mid-to-late-19th century, whereby coinage was smoothed down on one or both sides, and some form of initials, a message, and/or imagery was engraved so that it may be presented to a loved one. The most commonly encountered 'canvas' in the United States was the dime, and usually one from the Seated Liberty series. At their height, the U.S. Mint blamed an alleged shortage of dimes—a staple of most late-19th century transactions—on this craze. Rising again in the early-mid 20th century during the depths of despair that were the world wars, this form of coin art, usually referred to in this context as "trench art," would see another revival, offering soldiers a brief chance at escapism through sentimental creativity.

 

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