How Pocket Change Became Tokens Of Love

People were sentimental in the Victorian age and love tokens gave expression to those feelings. They were engraved by hand on legitimate coins of the realm. By the 1870s beautifully decorated love tokens became an obsession in both the United Kingdom and the United States.  Couples separated from each other by distance used coins engraved with sentimental messages as reminders of their beloved. They were also given by family members as well as friends.

“When this you see, remember me” is a phrase thought to have originated on prisoner tokens,
or love tokens made by British subjects sentenced to be shipped to penal colonies in Australia.
This is a modern stamped reproduction of a Victorian love token.
(Courtesy of the Love Token Society)

Two examples of treizains, or French marriage medals, from Nancy Rosin’s collection.
Both have double flaming hearts, while the coin on the left has a handshake symbolizing a union.
(Photos by Nancy Rosin)

These keepsakes were all the rage. In Victorian England a fellow walking arm-in-arm with his girlfriend at the fair would take her to buy a token from someone who made them on the spot. The United States actually experienced shortages of dimes because so many were being engraved. 

Read more at Collectors Weekly