Owner Comments:
Those seeking definitive historical details about what have become known as elephant tokens are destined for frustration. These enigmatic pieces come in three main types: 1) Those bearing the reverse peripheral legend "God Preserve London" surrounding a shield resembling the Coat of Arms of the City of London; 2) Those containing the date 1694, with the language "God Preserve Carolina And The Lord Proprietors". (The Lord Proprietors may refer to a group of eight English noblemen granted a Carolina patent for helping Charles II ascend the throne after the Cromwell Commonwealth period; and 3) The final type, also dated 1694, which reads "God Preserve New England", and is the rarest, with only three known surviving examples. Most elephant tokens are undated, with plain edges, and feature an elephant on the obverse, unaccompanied by any verbiage. The elephant side exhibits one of two variations, distinguished by the distance between the tusks and the border of the token.
Since no specimens have been proven to have circulated in early America, one might ask how these tokens even found their way into the colonial section of the Red Book. Their only tenuous connection to America is through their reference to Carolina and New England on a very limited number of pieces.
The Elephant Tokens were probably manufactured at the British Royal Tower Mint in London. Many years ago, original dies used to make them were seen there. The noted engraver, John Roettier, worked there from 1661 to 1689, and for most of those years served as its chief engraver.
Some initially theorized that these tokens may have been produced as early as 1665 or 1666 to commemorate the Great Plague of London which occurred during those years, and/or the Great London Fire of 1666. This was predicated on the tokens' legend "God Preserve London". There is substantial evidence however, that these tokens were coined several years later, probably circa 1694. At least two London elephant tokens have been found struck on 1672 regal coppers. The Carolina and New England tokens both display the date 1694. Although the London tokens are undated, they were produced using the same obverse dies that struck pieces referencing 1694. The 1694 and London types utilized both thin and thick planchets.
Numerous other divergent theories have been propounded to explain the purpose of these tokens. Among them: That they were produced for the Royal African Company, (however by 1694, this entity no longer existed); That they were promotional tokens to stimulate interest in the colonies; That they were issued as trade tokens to advertise, or for redemption purposes, in connection with the Carolina Coffee House and/or the New England Coffee House located near the Royal Exchange in London; They were lottery tokens; or They were issued to promote the mining of copper.
There are several distinctive varieties of the elephant token worthy of note: The Carolina variety features an erroneous spelling of Lord "Proprieters",which was subsequently corrected by repunching an "o" into the defective die. In most examples a dagger appears in the upper left quadrant of the shield. One deviant variety displays the dagger in the upper right quadrant. Still another variety is distinguished by a diagonal cross (saltire) in the middle of the shield. Another rare variety shows "Lon" on the left side of the shield and "Don" on the right with no other peripheral wording. Some examples have a 5 or 6 pointed star beneath the shield. Others have no such star at all.
British dealers have been the major source for those wishing to collect these tokens in America, because of their reference to the Carolinas and New England. Electrotyped examples exist.