This heavily corroded copper alloy jetton was discovered by Yanne in the Surrey Hills, not far from a country house known to have sheltered French nobles during the French Revolution. Several similar pieces have been found in the same area, raising the tantalising possibility that they may have been dropped by émigrés taking a walk through the countryside more than 200 years ago.
The jetton is of the Conseil du Roi (King’s Council) type, struck around 1640–1650 under Louis XIV of France, the “Sun King”. The obverse shows a laureate bust of Louis with the legend LVD. XIIII. D. G. FR. ET. NAV. REX (“Louis XIV, by the Grace of God, King of France and Navarre”). The reverse depicts the crowned arms of France within the double collar of the Order of St Michael, encircled by the motto NIL NISI CONSILIO (“Nothing without counsel”).
Jettons were not coins but counters, used for reckoning accounts, teaching arithmetic and sometimes as tokens of prestige. Their presence in Surrey speaks to the movement of people and objects across Europe, and in this case may link directly to the French nobility who found refuge here during a time of upheaval.
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