George II 1727 Jetton By Dietzel

Offered is a lovely 19mm brass jetton, or counter produced for the UK market by Nuremberg maker Johann Jacob Dietzel around 1727. This type is first mentionned in Thomas Snelling's A View of the Origin, Nature, &c, of Jettons, Counters, &c (1769, Pl. v. 38). It is then discussed in Medallic Illustrations 2 (1885, p. 484), which refers to it as "possibly rare," and as having been "struck early in the reign of George II." Writing in the same year, Hawkins was not aware of any surviving examples, but did make mention of the type. This example finer in both strike and preservation than British Museum item M.8263. All in all, a wonderful and most unusual Georgian jetton.