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Can anyone tell me more about this jetton?


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I've not been able to classify this undated jetton --Has anyone seen something like it? It looks to me like two separate French 16th-century love-emblems made into a jetton. Such emblems, often including paradoxes and plays on words, are common in early to mid-1500's French poetry, under Italian influence. They would often appear in woodcuts accompanying poems.

 

The French text is a bit corrupted. The spelling changes make me think it may be a German copy of a French piece: "Je meurs pour vous toucher" ("I die from touching you") seems to be the right reading of one motto; the other seems to be "une seule [flèche] me blesse" ("one [arrow] only wounds me"). The misspellings aren't the way these phrases would normally appear in 16th-century French. Any guesses?

 

vneseul._edited1.jpg

 

jemeurs._edited2.jpg

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Alas, this jetton is just too weird, it appears . . .

I thought at one point that maybe it was some sort of a "denier pour épouser," but those (unless I'm mistaken) are usually in billon or silver, and they usually have the words "denier pour épouser" on them.

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  • 5 years later...

FranksJeton-horz_zps0ec967af.jpg

 

From Nouvelle étude de jetons by Joseph de Fontenay, Société éduenne des lettres, sciences et arts (Autun, France) 1850.

Only one is dated(1665) but all would appear to be from about the same period. As there is an odd number pictured(9) maybe they were mixed & matched. http://books.google.ca/books?pg=PA25&lpg=PA25&dq=MOUURE+POUR+VOUS&sig=hfS4aB7vaqYvm89KvAqyYnJEQ_c&ei=gnbjUNq5CM3GqAHXnYFg&sqi=2&id=BB4fAAAAMAAJ&ots=3Gy0tcdeFd#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Bless you Pat for your hard work! I have wondered about that jeton for years. I think Fontenay's reading is correct, je m'ouvre instead of je meurs. And it does seem to be a German issue, substituting an F for a V in French, and a D for a T.

 

(prostrates self in gratitude)

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Isn't this a great forumn. It took six years, but an answer was found. A dedicated bunch hanging around this place.

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