Token, 1877

This copper token resembling a coin was in fact an advertisment for the Princess's Theatre in London's Oxford Street. The autumn season 1877 opened on the 10 September with a new melodrama by H.J. Byron entitled Guinea Gold, or the Lights and Shadows of London Life starring William Rignold as the murderous villain Richard Rawlinson, and Lydia Foote as the orphan girl Guinea Gold.

The cast also featured a young Fanny Leslie, later to become a well-known burlesque star, as a servant boy. H.J. Byron was better known for his comedies and burlesques, but this melodrama by him was chosen by the new lessee of the Princess's Theatre, Mr. Walter Gooch, as the first production of the season. Advertising tokens such as these were effective publicity tools for the theatre in the 19th century. Struck with the name of the theatre and the play, they could be left on the streets where people would be sure to pick them up, thinking they were coins. Marketing like this was also efficient since pasting up posters or handing out printed flyers was far more time-consuming than throwing advertising material on the ground!

Circular copper token struck verso with a crowned shield surrounded by the words: 'PRINCESS'S THEATRE EVERY NIGHT', and verso 'GUINEA GOLD' surrounded by: 'H.J.BYRON'S NEW SENSATIONAL MELODRAMA'