Michael Byrne

Hi everyone just to let you know I don't have a clue on what I doing but I will Give it a shot. About five years ago I bought what was called a Conder token. The seller was very nice and actually sent me a book to help me. Coder tokens come from England and were made during the 18th century. I found a particularly great die sinker and designer named P. Kempson. He had two sets , one of England's buildings and one on Coventry England. He decided that he would do a set of 19 tokens. Now they say half penny or penny in the England set. They were made for collectors. They new these were special so did Kempson. People who collected them took excellent care of them. In my set they are all MS ,some red  brown one Proof Like.. Now these go back to 1797. They didn't have the tools they have today. Yet you can count every brick every window and cobblestone in the street. Some of these buildings still stand today and were built long before 1797. Some were built in the 1300's and before.Now some were made allot earlier to sustain regular life. England had gone thru three wars. Ours for independence one with the French and there revolution.. The monarch would not realize silver or gold. They were near bankrupcy. So farmers and store owners had these copper tokens made to pay workers so people could by food and clothing. Like our tokens from the civil war. Many were used extensively. But the great die sinkers were collected for there workmanship.. Now.I believe this is the first step no clue were to go next. I could go on for hours but I think you get the picture of shark will be putting up. I hope you enjoy them five years is a long time to put a set together. Two years to find one. But my friends at the ANA helped out by looking. They looked on line hundreds of sights and every major show in the U.S. Nothing. I thought of throwing in the towel many times. I had made deals with the big sellers auction houses. Nothing. The answer was three this and miles away. That's were I found a gentleman named Merfyn . He would see one tell me I would bid and win. Never lost one. Finally it was completed in December of last year. I felt so happy and such a release of pressure I couldn't believe it. They are all graded between MS 63  to MS 65. I have bored you enough there are books on the and I don't feel like.writing one if there are questions I don't know but if there are I will try and answers them. Thanks.Mike