Animal, Vegetable, or
Mineral?
As a Museum we regularly come into
contact with unusual items which we are asked to identify. Having
discussed a particular item with a number of members, usually we are able to
come up with a suitable answer. Occasionally, however, we are stumped.
This page is designed to involve you, the visitor, with our
website. Should you recognise the artifact displayed below, please email the Society with
your suggestion, together with some background information. One idea
received indicates it may be a rat-catcher’s tool for depositing poisoned bait
down rat holes and for dragging out the resulting carcasses.
The wrought
iron object shown below (3 shots) is exactly 36 inches long and has the initials
“MWB” stamped on the pointed end. The other end is shaped like a scoop, or
marrow spoon.
Tokens and Paper Currency - You may have one of the
following:
1. A nineteenth century pub token
from The Pied Calf
public house, here in Spalding? They were often coin-sized disks of brass
with the name of a Public House on one side and a value (often three halfpence)
on the other. They were used in various ways. One was for a publican
to let a back room to a group of people, provided that they purchased a certain
number of tokens in advance. The group could then spend their tokens on
beer, etc., thus guaranteeing the landlord an amount of trade in exchange for
the use of his room.
At least two Spalding pubs are recorded as
having issued such tokens. The Black Swan and The Pied Calf. The
Society has a token issued by The Black Swan but would very much like to see an
example of that issued by The Pied Calf.
2. A Guinea Note issued by
Thomas Jennings and Son Limited’s Spalding
Bank, founded in the
early 1800s and which became bankrupt in about
1815. The Society has a few in extremely poor condition and would be very
interested to see good examples of these notes, or any documents or artifacts
relating to this important business.
During the 1790s many traders
produced their own halfpenny token coins to alleviate the severe shortage of
ordinary “coin of the realm”. Thomas Jennings was possibly the only
Spalding businessman to have done so at that time and he produced them in
considerable quantity. The Society has at least 12 varieties of his
halfpenny token, mostly in good
condition.
