🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Copper disc with inscription

[DiggerKid2003]

Hello everyone, I found this object at a civil war site where a large amount of soldiers camped, also multiple slave quarters on the property. It doesn’t have anything on the back, it appears to have the letter d, then 12, and L&U. Not sure if this is a crop pickers token or possibly a civil war id tag, everything on the site is civil war or slightly predates it. I appreciate any responses and if you need better picture or have any questions let me know.

 

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[crashbandicoot]

Don,t know,but it sure is cool!

 

[ivan salis]

company D 12th L A U (jight artillery unt) ?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

DiggerKid2003, the markings might be giving us some clues about your brass disc's origin and purpose.

The number 2 has an extremely long curled-over top, which is a style of number-writing used in Britain/Europe during the Colonial Era into the early-1800s.

The symbol in between the letters, which you interpret as an Ampersand (the "and" symbol), is unusual, being very tilted way over to the left. That too suggests it is from Colonial-to-early-1800s.

Lastly... the single letter D above the other markings is a lower-case d -- which must have been done for an important reason. It might represent the abbreviation/mark for dram... and if so, that suggests the disc is an Apothecary weight or some other type of fine-gauge scale weight.

 

[DiggerKid2003]

company D 12th L A U (jight artillery unt) ?

I sure would hope so!

 

[DiggerKid2003]

DiggerKid2003, the markings might be giving us some clues about your brass disc's origin and purpose.

The number 2 has an extremely long curled-over top, which is a style of number-writing used in Britain/Europe during the Colonial Era into the early-1800s.

The symbol in between the letters, which you interpret as an Ampersand (the "and" symbol), is unusual, being very tilted way over to the left. That too suggests it is from Colonial-to-early-1800s.

Lastly... the single letter D above the other markings is a lower-case d -- which must have been done for an important reason. It might represent the abbreviation/mark for dram... and if so, that suggests the disc is an Apothecary weight or some other type of fine-gauge scale weight.

Thanks for the knowledge as always! I wasn’t expecting it to be that early, would it be a weight considering how thin it is? I’ll definitely have to do some more research, I figured it was a crop pickers token but it doesn’t seem like it now.

 

[Bramblefind]

Neat piece! How much does it weigh? Like Cannonball Guy I thought it could be a weight. I like his idea of apothecary drams. I had been thinking the "d" was a penny and 12d=shilling so it could be a bullion weight.

eta 12 drams would probably be much too heavy. A shilling would be about 5 grams.

 

[DiggerKid2003]

Neat piece! How much does it weigh? Like Cannonball Guy I thought it could be a weight. I like his idea of apothecary drams. I had been thinking the "d" was a penny and 12d=shilling so it could be a bullion weight.

eta 12 drams would probably be much too heavy. A shilling would be about 5 grams.

I’ll have to check when I get home, Weight might be a little off, it’s wore down.

 

[CRUSADER]

Neat piece! How much does it weigh? Like Cannonball Guy I thought it could be a weight. I like his idea of apothecary drams. I had been thinking the "d" was a penny and 12d=shilling so it could be a bullion weight.

eta 12 drams would probably be much too heavy. A shilling would be about 5 grams.

Agreed, lower case d is Penny. 12 Penny Weight.
Needs a weight, but it does seem to be leading to a Bullion Weight ID.

 

[DiggerKid2003]

Hello everyone, sorry for the late response. It weighs 0.064 ounces, as I said it seems pretty wore down, may not be original weight

 

[CRUSADER]

Hello everyone, sorry for the late response. It weighs 0.064 ounces, as I said it seems pretty wore down, may not be original weight

Which if I have done my calculations properly (?) is close to 1.2 Pennyweight. So maybe there is a missing dot & it's not 12 but 1.2?

 

[CRUSADER]

This one is tough.
It looks likely it's some kind of Weight but it doesn't fit well into any of the 3 main types;
Coin
Medicine
Bullion

If it's not a Weight then a Token or Check is the next best fit as the L&U (probably the Trader) might have produced it but why a 12 Penny denomination when you would normally say Shilling instead!

Odd, what we do know is the lettering fits a late 18th-early 19th C timeline.

 

[DiggerKid2003]

This one is tough.
It looks likely it's some kind of Weight but it doesn't fit well into any of the 3 main types;
Coin
Medicine
Bullion

If it's not a Weight then a Token or Check is the next best fit as the L&U (probably the Trader) might have produced it but why a 12 Penny denomination when you would normally say Shilling instead!

Odd, what we do know is the lettering fits a late 18th-early 19th C timeline.

Exactly, I’ve been looking for the past week and can’t find anything similar, it reminds me of a crop pickers token but it’s definitely too old, I don’t think they were used that early.

 

[FloodcityTom]

Suttlers tokem?

 

[DiggerKid2003]

Suttlers tokem?

That would be amazing, but it almost seems too old to be.

 

[CRUSADER]

Exactly, I’ve been looking for the past week and can’t find anything similar, it reminds me of a crop pickers token but it’s definitely too old, I don’t think they were used that early.

Why not, our hops tokens have been used since the Medieval period.

 

[DiggerKid2003]

Why not, our hops tokens have been used since the Medieval period.

I don’t think they were used until the mid 19th century, mostly in the early 20th, if I’m not mistaken. I can’t find any early examples, atleast in the US.

Edit: I guess it could be an early British hops token, the lettering looks pretty similar, gonna do some more research. Maybe an early communion token?

 

[Gare]

Nice Find NICE Picture 111