Owner Comments:
(1694) 1/2 P London Elephant Token, Thick Planchet, MS65 Brown NGC. Hodder 2-B, W-12040, aLSO Breen 186, and Betts 81, R.2. This is the common thick planchet variety with the reverse legend GOD PRESERVE LONDON and the sword in the first quadrant of the shield to the upper left. It is a sharply struck and nicely centered example with smooth olive and steel-brown surfaces that retain traces of original red color hidden among the devices on each side. Slight planchet defects are evident at the left and right obverse border, as struck. Although Elephant tokens are not particularly rare in Mint State grades, they are almost never seen in Gem quality. See NGC/PCGS populations below. Listed on page 58 of the 2019 Guide Book.
Ex: Long Beach Signature (Heritage, 2/2007), lot 2008, where it brought $8,050.
From The Kadison Family Collection.
The single finest graded by NGC 1/0
PCGS 1/65BN, 2/65RB, 1/66RB
The London Elephant tokens were struck circa 1672 to 1694. Although they were undated, two examples are known to have been struck over 1672 British halfpennies. Most were struck in copper, but one was made of brass. The legend on this piece, GOD PRESERVE LONDON, is probably just a general plea for divine aid and not a specific reference to the outbreak of plague in 1665 or the great fire of 1666.
These pieces were not struck for the colonies, and probably did not circulate widely in America, although a few may have been carried there by colonists. They are associated with the 1694 Carolina and New England Elephant tokens, through a shared obverse die.