By: Paul Baker

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"The piece issued by Hooper Struve's Mineral Waters is number 22.304 in  J. Gavin Scott's
"British Countermarks on Copper & Bronze Coins".

I have just one encased (framed) coin and it just might be one you have not heard of before. These coins are of course bimetallic so I shall describe this piece I have:-

The inner core is a 1934 Great Britain Farthing (KM-825), the outer ring (frame) is of Aluminum and has an overall (outer) diameter of 38mm (1.50 inches) which I believe is a common size for these. This outer ring has a plain edge. We shall call the side showing the obverse of the farthing, the obverse of our encased coin. This obverse in addition to the farthing's obverse design show the words "KEEP ME AND YOU WILL NEVER BE BROKE" on a horseshoe which loops over the king's portrait. Also on the obverse is a dentilated border, some of which has worn away (there is no sign of a dentilated border on the reverse). Finally on this side are the initials "J. R. G.", these letters are of a similar size to the digits in the date on the farthing and are found at the very bottom of the obverse, but not touching the denticles. The reverse has of course the reverse of the farthing, then on the outer ring there are the words "HOOPER STRUVE'S" over the top and the words "MINERAL WATERS" underneath. Each pair of words is upright. Two dots are used to separate the two pairs of words, one at the starts and one at the ends.

On looking up "Encased Coins" in "The First Dictionary of Paranumismatic" (devised, edited and published by Brian Edge of Crewe, England, U.K. 1991.) this short section did mention that a large number of the encased coins are attributed to the London and Birmingham manufacturer J. R. Gaunt & Son Ltd. (Hence the initials J. R. G. on my coin.) The aim of Brian Edge's book is to give reference to further sources of information of each of the very many mentioned types of paranumismatic. This section on encased coins makes reference to two books (for suggested further reading on the subject) they are (i) BAUM, J. W. "Encased Coins", A Primer of American Exonumia, (limited issue of 200), Hewitt Bros., Chicago, 1973. and (ii) SCOTT, J. GAVIN. British Countermarks on Copper and Bronze Coins, (includes some illustrations) Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1975.

The other week at a coin fair I got another old British encased Farthing to add to my rather small collection of such pieces. I will describe it.... The inner core is a 1921 Great Britain Farthing (KM-808.2), the outer ring (frame) is of Aluminum and has an overall (outer) diameter of 38mm (1.50 inches) which I believe is a common size for these. This outer ring has a plain edge. This obverse in addition to the farthing's obverse design show the words "KEEP ME AND YOU WILL NEVER BE BROKE" on a horseshoe which loops over the king's portrait. Also on the obverse is a dentilated border. Finally on this side are the initials "J.R.G.", these letters are of a similar size to the digits in the date on the farthing and are found at the very bottom of the obverse, but not touching the denticles. The reverse has of course the reverse of the farthing, then on the outer ring there are the words "GOOD LUCK" over the top and the words "FROM THE AMBASSADOR SUPER CINEMA" underneath. Each pair of words is upright. Two dots are used to separate the two line of legend, one at the starts and one at the ends. The reverse of the ring has a beaded border. This cinema was in Salford, near to Manchester, England. The cinema was opened in 1928, the building became a casino & bingo hall in 1965 and was demolished in 2004.