2024 BRITISH TOKEN CONGRESS REPORT

 

The 42nd annual British Token Congress took place in Northampton, a short hour-long train ride outside of London on October 4-6 2024. This is one of the most unique events in numismatics – as well as one of the biggest bargains! From Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon the attendees were treated to fifteen different talks, ranging from 10 minutes to just under an hour, on all types of token topics. Talks are usually heavy on the 17th century issues, but this year saw a surprising amount of 18th century content, the ever-popular Conder token series that has captivated American collectors for decades. There was even a talk that veered into colonial American coinage, an excellent discussion on the Somers Islands "hogge money," which was recorded and will be made available to collectors.

Talks often have cheeky titles, which make you look forward to hearing them! This year had talks billed as "Sausages and Plaster," "Nice Glass of Red, Anybody?," "From Newgate Prison To Chicago," "A Round Tour of the Square," "Magic, Superstition and the Tokens that Never Were," and "17th Century School Tokens – You'd Better Learn or Else." In addition, there were other interesting talks on a variety of subjects: female issuers of 17th century tokens – in an era when women could not hold property or had many rights at all once married, there were a surprising number of them who issued trade tokens; a surprising American connection to the tokens issued in Dundee Scotland based on the architectural drawings of James Wright; a look at the tokens that depict the London City Gates; an introduction to John Freeth, the Birmingham Poet who was memorialized on tokens, and more.

While many coin shows feature talks, they are often little more than an auxiliary to the main action of a bourse floor and auction. For Token Congress that script is flipped, and the talks are the main reason for attending – and around 100 collectors from the UK, Europe, and double-digit representation from the US signed up for the experience. For the ridiculously low price of 220 pounds (about $285 at the time I booked), you get two nights in a rather nice Hilton Hotel, all your meals (dinner Friday night, breakfast lunch and dinner on Saturday, and breakfast on Sunday, with an option to add lunch that day as well), and several tea and coffee breaks, because it is England after all. Several kegs of beer were donated by Baldwin's, and a two-pound donation got you a pint, and to add to the alcohol mix, Noonan's donated both red and white wine to every table at the Saturday night dinner – while the hotel bar offered still further options to tipple. All attendees received a lavish full-color 46 page program which contained some excellent articles which have not been published anywhere else.

 

In addition to all the talks, there is an auction on the Friday night, which this year had over 250 lots of tokens and books up for live bidding, with tokens from the 16th to 20th centuries, realizing from just a few pounds to just over 100 pounds – prices that were often far less than you would have paid for the same things at a public auction or dealer's price list, and the literature lots went especially cheap (I was contemplating buying another suitcase and lugging as many as I could back home, but contented myself with just one 18th century book). On Saturday night there is a gala dinner, followed by a bourse, with a dozen or so dealers and collectors set up to tempt you to trade cash for tokens. This is my 13th year attending and I can honestly say that there have been few years where I did not find enough interesting material at the auction or on the bourse to justify the trip, and some of the things I was able to purchase were items that I would never otherwise had seen.

Token Congress has been purposely fitted to the "sweet spot" between the large Coinex show in London the weekend before, and any token auction in London the following week – this year there were two major token auctions, by both Baldwin's and Noonan's, with a couple thousand tokens crossing the block on two consecutive days, plus a smaller auction by St. James.

A trip of ten days or so would thus allow you to not only do Token Congress, attend auctions, and a major coin show, but also allow for some sightseeing time in London or elsewhere, while extending it to two weeks gives you even more time to explore. Token Congress also happens after the peak travel season, meaning airfare and hotel rooms are far less-expensive than they would have been a month or two earlier – but still early enough that the weather is decent, with cooler days and nights, but not yet cold.

Very few people who have attended once have stopped there – indeed, most come back year after year because the talks each year are always interesting and different, they look forward to seeing friends they've made (who usually collect the same stuff they do), as well as the thrill of adding things to their collection.

 

While exact dates have not been set yet for 2025, it is likely to be the last week of September, or the following week; because of inflation everywhere, the cost will likely go up just a little, but should still be under $325. It's not too early to think about attending! If you have any interest in tokens, then this is the place to be – you are guaranteed to learn something new, and have an awful lot of fun doing it. I will be organizing the 2025 Congress, and if you would like more information on it, feel free to email me at: rosaamltd@gmail.com I am also looking for speakers at the 2025 event – if you have interesting research to share, or collect tokens that might be off the beaten path, why not consider putting together a talk on them and sharing your knowledge with other collectors?

I look forward to seeing some new faces at Token Congress next year!

For more information, see:
https://thetokensociety.org.uk/token-congress/

	NBS (coinbooks.org) Web