Century Treasures

A living archive of remembered things

Century-old treasures,seen with fresh eyes.

Medals, badges, coins, and curiosities from a family collection. Each item is carefully catalogued with researched history, bringing each piece back to life.

This week's treasures

A small handful from a much larger story.

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1769 Irish Half Penny

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1769 Irish Half Penny

This Hibernia halfpenny was struck in 1769 for Irish use, featuring the symbolic harp and female figure representing Ireland. This coin’s deep green and brown patina suggests long-term environmental exposure, possibly soil-toned copper oxidation, a beautiful survivor over 250 years old. This coin with its sharp lettering and correct design, appears to be a genuine Royal Mint piece, not a Birmingham evasion. But its story is inseparable from the world it circulated in: a world where the line between official money and necessary substitutes blurred, and where the great industrial workshops of Birmingham quietly became the unofficial mint of the British Isles.

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1839 Isle of Man Halfpenny

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1839 Isle of Man Halfpenny

Issued in 1839, this Isle of Man halfpenny marks the first Victorian Manx coinage and carries the island’s enduring Triskelion motto, "Whithersoever you throw it, it will stand." Struck in copper for local circulation, these coins helped relieve a chronic shortage of small change on the island. The young portrait of Queen Victoria sits opposite the ancient symbol of Manx independence, capturing a moment when the Isle of Man stood between tradition and the rising modern world.

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General Service Button (Victorian Crown)

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General Service Button (Victorian Crown)

This late-Victorian General Service button represents the standardized insignia worn by tens of thousands of British soldiers. The crowned royal arms symbolize national authority, while the maker’s mark, Player Bros., Birmingham, places it among the high-volume, industrial button production of the Midlands. These buttons were universal issue and found on tunics across many regiments during an era of major organizational change within the British Army.

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