Erik Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 This term came up in a recent post as well as in a book I'm reading called Jamestown: The Buried Truth - appartently they found hundreds of them during the excavation of the original fort. What exactly are they? Thanks, Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 Jetons were / are a token used as reckoning counters. They were also used as a money substitute in games, similar to casino tokens or poker chips. Most resembling coinage and if I am not mistaken, some were used as coins at times. I think jettons also refers to token used in more modern times in telephones and vending machines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roaddevil Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 tnx for the info dursus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted July 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 Jetons were / are a token used as reckoning counters. Hi, That seems to be the context in which they were discussed in the book - now can you tell me what a reckoning counter is? Do you happen to know whether these early jettons feautured any sort of design or were they simply blank planchets (any pics)? Thanks for any info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drusus Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 They had all kinds of great designs from just basic geometric shapes, busts of rulers, religious scenes, you name it...reckoning counters were used for adding and subtracting and were used in calculation on a lined board (counting table) kind of like an abacus (early calculator). here are a few examples of jetons: this shows a guy using a counting table and jetons. and here is an example of a counting table they were used on: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erik Posted July 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 Beautiful - thanks for posting the pics! They are quite interesting as pieces of history. I wonder what the jettons that were found at the Jamestown Fort excavation look like. Apparently they found hundreds of them there - they may have been used as an early currency there. Regards, Erik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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