Communion Tokens. 47 



their personal superintendence to tlie making of the tokens. 

 Thus at PERTH the Session Records in 1681, 1683, and 1685 

 tell of the apointment of " attenders on the stricking of the 

 tickets." The two methods in the manufacture of tokens were 

 " striking " and " moulding.'' The " striking off the tikets '" was 

 done by means of an iron punch which was placed on sheet-metal 

 and hammered, the impressions being cut off to any size or shape. 

 A gOQd example of this may be seen in the ECCLEFECHAN 

 Associate token, which is a round impression struck on slieet lead 

 and cut to otjlong, square, or diamond shape (vide Dumfriesshire 

 illustrations, 56-58). Or the lead was poured into a wooden or 

 stone mould, then struck with the punch. The earlier DUM- 

 FRIES tokens have thus received a rude octagonal impression in 

 a heavy shapeless frame (illus. 1-3). Such a token punch is that 

 of the BEREAN CHURCH, EDINBURGH, preserved in the 

 National Museum of Antiquities (vide Brook, p. 23). A third 

 method of striking tokens was by means of an iron stamp, or 

 punch, in a box. l'^-<:)m the end of this box the tokens were 

 struck out to a uniform size bearing the desired impression. The 

 SWINTON AND SIMPRIN token is from a stamp and box of 

 this sort (Burns, p. 453). At DORNOCK, Dumfriesshire (illus. 

 44), the thin sheet-lead was apparently cut into small squares, and 

 each square hand-punched with two separate irons to receive 

 incuse impressions of the capitals D C. This accounts for the 

 fact that no two issues ha\e been struck exactly alike. On some 

 tokens the initial of the place is merely scratched with a sharp 

 point on small pieces of sheet-lead and cut to shape. A good 

 example of this is seen at HALTWHISTLE, where the small 

 token bearing the letter H is known to belong to the same period 

 as the old pewter Communion Cups dated 1745. About the )ear 

 1828 it is mentioned in the Haltwhistle Kirk-Session Records that 

 there were 33 tokens f(n' the use of communicants. The method 

 largely adopted was " moulding." Ancient moulds were made of 

 stone, iron, and sometimes even w'ood. In rural parishes stone 

 moulds were preferred to iron as behig easier to make and requir- 

 ing less skill to use. When soft stones could be had, as the 

 Water of Ayr, or the Cam Stone, slate, or any such workable 

 material, they were usually employed. From moulds like these 

 have come some of our finest tokens. The halves of the mould 

 were locked together bv means of pegs or bolts or other contri- 



