Communion Token Catalog - Now Available in PDF Format

The auction catalog for the Merchant collection of Canadian communion tokens is now available in PDF format at http://gbellauctions.com (you may need to refresh your browser, then scroll down to the bottom of the page). The communion tokens are in part 1. There are many more images shown on the auction web site.

-Bob

Communion Token Auction Catalog

The auction catalog for the upcoming sale of Canadian communion tokens can also be found on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Geoffrey-Bell-Auctions-2016-Toronto-Coin-Expo-Catalog-Communion-Tokens-Feature-/291730943097

Bob Merchant

Communion Token Auction Announcement

The Bob Merchant collection of Canadian communion tokens will be auctioned by Geoffrey Bell Auctions at the Toronto Coin Expo on April 21-22, 2016. There are hundreds of extremely rare communion tokens included, from many famous collectors of the past. The communion tokens are in lots 323-to-493. To view the auction catalog and to place bids, go to the following web site, and click on the catalog cover. You can also order a printed copy of the catalog from the auction house if desired.

http://auctions.gbellauctions.com/Toronto-Coin-Expo-Spring-Sale-2016_a26881?m=all

Bob Merchant
 

When did Communion tokens start?

The origin of the Communion token is a matter of some conjecture. There is a standard belief that the Communion token begins with John Calvin, reformer and father of the Reformed family of churches.

In a letter to the Council of Geneva, dated 1560, Calvin wrote, “…[Il] serait bon que pour éviter le danger de ceux qui profanent la cène, lesquels on ne peut tout connaître, il serait bon de faire des marreaux et que, advenant le jour de la cène, chacun allât prendre des marreaux pour ceux de sa maison qui seraient instruits et les étrangers qui viennent ayant rendu témoignage de leur foi en pourront aussi prendre et ce qui n’en auront point n’y seront pas admis.”

Translation: “It would be good, to avoid the danger of those who profane the Lord’s Supper, of which one cannot know everyone, it would be good to make tokens and when the day of the Lord’s Supper comes, each [member] would go and get tokens for those in their households that have received instruction, and the strangers who come, having given witness to their faith, would receive them as well, and that those who have no token should not be admitted to the Supper.”

The reference to the tokens (marreaux) is the earliest written record, and as such has been regarded as the beginning of the Communion token.

Certainly there have been signs (the Latin word for token is ‘signum’, from which we get our word ‘sign’) and tokens used in the church prior to 1560. An early sign was in the days of persecution of the church. A Christian meeting someone whose faith was in doubt would make a curved sign in the dirt and the other, if a Christian also, would know to make a corresponding curved sign completing the simple picture of a fish. Why a fish? Because in Greek the first letter of the words for “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour” ΙΧΘΥΣ is the word ‘fish’.

Tokens were used for special purposes in the middle ages. I have an example of a centuries old clay token of the True Cross. These tokens were made of clay which held shavings purportedly from the true cross of Jesus and distributed to crowds when the true cross was paraded for all to see. Some say that the vast number of tokens made would have whittled the cross to a very small size.

The Communion token, however, was a later addition to the exonumia of the church. Did it begin with Calvin, or did he simply mention a practice that had already begun in some congregations?

I tend to prefer the latter explanation, specifically because of a token I have that is dated 1553. I bought this token many years ago in an auction in Canada. It was simply listed as a French Communion token dated 1553. The cross radiate on one side and the chalice and dove on the other make this almost certain. To be certain, I have had the token viewed by Museums in both Britain and France that have large collections of Communion tokens, and they agreed with the original designation: a French Communion token. Neither said anything about the date.

So the question is this: Is the date 1553 accurate or is the token antedated to the founding of the issuing congregation?

There is a single clue. As a former collector of Scottish coinage and having seen corresponding French coinage, I know that a regular feature of coins of both countries from the 1550’s is the use of annulets (circles or haloes) over the royal initials and dates. This is a feature of this token as well, suggesting to me that the date is accurate.

Unfortunately, the congregation is not named and the exact origin of the token must remain uncertain, but it remains for me a piece of evidence that the use of the token preceded Calvin’s letter, at least to a limited degree.

 

The token measures 37.3 x 32 mm, is 3.4 mm thick, and weighs 17.6 grams.