1694-1702 A.D. Group of three love tokens, each a sixpence coin bent into a double-curved profile; one pierced and with initials to each face. 7.45 grams total, 20 mm each (3/4 in.).

Acquired on the UK art market. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.

The custom of giving a bent coin as a love-token is known from the 17th century in England. The coins were usually smoothed to obliterate the monarch’s head and then bent twice; sometimes they were engraved with initials or symbols such as hearts or knots. If the sweetheart accepted the youth's advances, she kept the token; if not, she disposed of the coin. The tradition is referred to in the children's rhyme There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, he found a crooked sixpence on a crooked stile. [3, No Reserve]