Errors and Mysteries
Things are not
always as they seem, even when written up in books by respected researchers.
Let me show you what I mean.
When an American
dealer was selling dies for Communion tokens, I bought the one pictured, for
the obverse of the token for Penrith and St. Mary’s. The token is listed in
Copinger as number 224, Penrith, Cumberland. The reference continues in
Cresswell as number 4903 and Burzinski as number 5586. As far as the identity
is concerned, we are home and cool, right?
Not necessarily!
I have a decent
collection of English Communion tokens, but not this token – part of the reason
I chose this die. So I thought I’d check into the church that issued it. I
looked up Penrith, and found it quickly. As is often the case with English
Presbyterian Churches, I checked to see if this congregation was not part of
the United Reformed Church. It is. Wonderful!
Then I looked
for St. Mary’s. No map indicates the existence of a town named St. Mary’s in
Cumberland or anywhere near Penrith. Maybe it was a country church, or simply a
church name, I thought, but searches continued to come up empty.
The logical next
step is to contact the congregation. I emailed Penrith URC and had some
delightful exchanges with the congregational secretary, who is very much up on
the history of the church. He confirmed that there is no St. Mary’s, told me
that Penrith has never been in a joint charge with another congregation,
certainly not in the 1800’s, and further, there was no evidence that Penrith
Presbyterian Church had ever issued or used a Communion token.
From curiosity
to mystery!
A search ensued
for other Penriths, and I found one in New South Wales, Australia, and, not far
away, a St. Mary’s. Continuing research showed that Penrith and St. Mary’s
Presbyterian Churches were a two point charge from 1860 through into the early
1880’s. Logic suggests that this is not an English Communion token, but
Australian. Two Australian collectors have looked at the evidence and agree
with the findings. Kirkwood and Sons in Edinburgh, makers of the die, tell me
that they do not have the old records anymore, so cannot confirm or deny that
the token is Australian.
However, to
complicate matters, there is no record of Communion tokens being used at
Penrith or St. Mary’s. This is not necessarily conclusive as I have seen
Session minutes from a Canadian Presbyterian Church that never mention tokens,
but the church has a bag of them! My guess, shared by an Australian collector,
is that the token was ordered, but never actually used. Further searches for
the tokens themselves seem to indicate that they are not often seen. I have
found record of only one, and that in a Museum in Scotland. Perhaps it is a
proof from Kirkwood who sold off many of their proofs a few years ago. I have tried to
find out whether the token the Museum has is new or used, something that might
help confirm my guess, but they don’t do such searches, so I may have to go to
the Museum next time I am in Scotland.
If anyone out
there has an example of the Penrith and St. Mary’s token I’d be interested to
hear from you. comtokcanada@gmail.com
By the way, I
sent the die to Kirkwood and had restrikes of the obverse made. The reverse is
not the same as the original – so there is no confusion. The re-strikes are in
my Australian collection.
