Counterstamp 1849 JB

[Figleaf]

From the posts above, I think MattEdge meant the token had once been described (sold?) by Glendinnings and he had the description (auction catalogue?). See in particular reply #6 in connection with the OP. He also had a comment from the Brooke family that looks more speculative than it sounds to me. See again reply #6.

The owner declared the host coin to be copper. Fine. Light does change colour in photos. I remain unconvinced that it is a sol of the type of KM578, though. On this type, the date is split by the top of the crown - see picture in reply #6. On the picture in the OP, the 7 and the 8 of the date are so tight together that there is definitely no place for the top of the crown. At this time, dies for all mints were made in Paris. Local mints just added their mint and director marks, so the difference in the placement of the date is not a peculiarity of a provincial mint.

If the host is not a coin, the whole story of the Brooke family becomes doubtful, as it says that James Brooke "bought a large horde of out of circulation Louis French coins". I take that for not more than family lore.

Peter

[Hong]

Never thought of that, thanks! Will search it and actually the coin had already been identified...French 1785 Sol...though it's a small variety minted in Strasbourg. I can only find one example currently online here:
https://www.ma-shops.com/sesambestcoins/item.php?id=54689
It is an exact match for the type. So the host coin is an actual coin.

Hong

[Figleaf]

  That's pretty conclusive evidence. Great research. It looks like the Strasbourg mint tinkered with an old die, replacing the date.

I think 1781 would be a good candidate, as the 1 takes beaucoup less place than a 5, so they had to re-cut the 8 as well as remove the 1 to accomodate the 5. They did a pretty good job, but the numbers are still badly aligned. The 8 in particular looks like it was squashed in there to make place for the 5.

I was also thinking that it would have been difficult to transport the hoard. It would have to be by ship and waterways in France were close to useless because of the many toll and other waterside thieves However, Strasbourg solves that conundrum. It's on the Ill, which is a tributary of the Rhine, so you load the coins on a large river vessel, drift outside French territory with the flow until the Dutch coast and cross over when the wind is favourable and the sea is calm. You could have the whole transaction financed in Amsterdam or London (but there, you run the risk of another Franco-British war blocking payment). Neat!

Peter