The David Young Collection of Medals of Devon

David Young
I cannot remember a time when I was not collecting coins or tokens. Like many, my interest began with coins taken from change and the foreign coins which my Father brought back from his overseas trips. I was also fortunate that Fred Baldwin was a family friend who gave me books and coins, together with advice or assistance with identification. After I started working I began collecting English shillings and a holiday in Switzerland prompted a collection of Swiss coins.
Around 1970 I discovered tokens, eighteenth century at first and later those from the seventeenth century. Their main appeal at that time was that the tokens were cheaper than the coins; also the tokens were issued locally by an individual or business so that most of the pieces were different. So began the collection of Somerset tokens and by the time I moved to Somerset in 1976 I was collecting any token from that county. The Swiss coins and shillings were sold and the proceeds used to start the formation of a library of books on tokens. In 1990 Steve Minnitt and I published Tickets Checks & Passes from the County of Somerset, and it was while doing some research for this book that I came across the pleasure gardens and theatres in Bath.
While reading about Bath, the pleasure gardens of London were mentioned regularly and I
acquired the occasional token from one or other of the London gardens. These tickets seemed more personal as many of them were numbered or even named to an individual person. There was so much social history linked with the tickets and the more I learnt about the gardens and their tickets the more fascinated I became with them and the period in which they were used. So around 1996 I began collecting tickets for the London pleasure gardens and I was lucky enough to acquire a number of Vauxhall Garden tickets from the sale of Owen Parsons’ collection in 1998. Within a few years I was also colleting the tickets for the London theatres and other entertainments and over the last twenty years the collection has grown substantially.
I have enjoyed reading and researching the history of the various pleasure gardens, theatres and entertainments and how their tickets were used. As these pieces are unusual I
thought others may be interested to hear about them, so I have given a number of talks at the annual Token Congresses and have written articles for the Bulletin of the Token Corresponding Society and Coin News. These talks and articles have now covered most of the pieces in the collection, which is what I aimed to do when I started the talks. I feel now it is time to dispose of the collection and hope that others will find as much enjoyment in these pieces as I have.
Collection Information
This collection was sold on 25 November 2013.
Other Collections Sold in 2013
- Awards to the Medical Services from the Collection of the late Tony Sabell
- Awards to the Indian Army from the Collection of AM Shaw
- Exceptional Naval and Polar Awards from the Collection of RC Witte
- Milled Coins from the Andrew Scothern Collection
- The Late Jim Sazama Collection of Medieval Coins
- A fine Collection of Medals to the Sherwood Foresters
- A Collection of Medals to the Sussex Yeomanry
- A Collection of Awards to the Royal Flying Corps, Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force
- A Collection of Medals to the Hampshire Regiment
- An Old Collection of Medals Relating to The Great War
- British Medals from the Collection of James Spencer
- Tokens from the Late David Griffiths Collection
- The Late Robinson S. Brown Jr Collection
- The Alan Cathery Collection of British Campaign Medals
- A Fine Collection of Boer War Medals
- A Fine Collection of Awards to the Canadian Forces
- Irish Coins from the Collection of the Late Jim Sazama
- The Ron Tuppen Collection of Naval Medals to Engine Room Officers
- Life Saving Awards from the Collection of John Wilson
- Fine British Orders - the property of a Gentleman
- British Hammered Coins from the Collection of James T. Joyner
- British Hammered Coins from the Collection of Dr Paul Lewis
- Collection of Jetons formed by the late George Berry
- World Coins and Tokens from the Collection formed by Allan Vayle
- The George Berry Collection of 17th Century Buckinghamshire Tokens
- The Peter Mann Collection of Kent Tokens
- Collection of British Coins formed by the late Ronald Hansen
- Patterns of Elizabeth I from the Collection of Walter Wilkinson
- The Leon Morel Collection of Medals of Edward VIII
- The David Young Collection of Medals of Devon
- A Collection of Admiral Vernon and Related Medals, the Property of a Gentleman
- A Collection of Medals Associated with Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington
- Medals from the Collection of the Revd. John Watson
- The David Greenhalgh Collection of Medieval Halfgroats
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