Coin-like gaming pieces
In the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many coin-like objects were produced to serve as gambling counters or gaming pieces, to keep score or act as tokens during card games and other games of chance. The commonest types are pieces made in imitation of gold guineas and half guineas of George III's so-called 'spade' type, issued between 1787 and 1800 (fig. 1). These pieces were normally made of brass and can also be distinguished by their inscriptions, which were usually versions of those used on the original coin, but bungled and with incorrect dates. The type was revived in the 1860s, when they usually carried the names of the firms which produced them, or BIRM for Birmingham, where most were manufactured.
Figure 1 (not to scale)
Another piece surviving in large numbers is the 'To Hanover' counter (see fig. 2), a copy of the gold sovereign of Queen Victoria, but with the reverse design of St George and the dragon replaced by a crowned horseman accompanied by a three-headed dragon, with the legend: TO HANOVER and the date 1837 (though many had later dates instead). This was originally a satirical piece commemorating the departure of Victoria's uncle, the unpopular duke of Cumberland, to become king of Hanover on the death of William IV. (Victoria could not inherit Hanover as German law did not permit female succession.) These pieces continued to be produced in large numbers well after they ceased to be topical, and took on the role of gaming counters. They were also sometimes passed off as coins. Their manufacture thereby incurred the hostility of the authorities and was made illegal in 1883.
Figure 2 (not to scale)
A related counter was the 'Prince of Wales model sovereign' and half sovereign, issued from 1842 until the 1870s. The obverse showed the queen's head, but the reverse showed the emblems of the prince of wales and the legend 'The Prince of Wales Model Sovrn' or 'Half Sovrn'. The halves were particularly common and were often partnered with the 'To Hanover' sovereign. Other gaming counters were much less closely based on coin types, for example the 'Keep Your Temper' pieces, which usually depicted a card-player on front.
Bibliography
R N P Hawkins, A Dictionary of British Metallic Tickets, Checks, Medalets, Tallies and Counters, 1788-1910. London, 1989
R N P Hawkins, 'The "To Hanover" counter', Numismatic Chronicle, 6th series, 19, 1959
R N P Hawkins, 'Catalogue of the advertisement imitations of 'spade' guineas and their halves', British Numismatic Journal 32 (1963), with supplements in the British Numismatic Journal vols 34, 37 and 53.
