r/Dorset

Seldom seen today, this undated shilling was one of about thirty types/varieties issued in Dorsetshire during the Regency Period, when the Crown failed to provide enough "small change" for everyday commerce. It was backed by the Dorchester Bank, a partnership formed by Robert Pattison, the city's mayor at the time, with backing from Robert Cox and William Merle, London-based goldsmiths.

On the reverse we see St. Dunstan with Satan's face hovering behind him and smithy's tongs in his left hand. The backstory is that the Devil visited Dunstan one day while he was making a gold chalice at his abbey's forge. Dunstan reputedly grabbed Satan by the nose with his red-hot tongs and dragged him kicking and screaming out of the monastery.

St. Dunstan (909-988 a.d.) topped out his career as Archbishop of Canterbury and was canonized in 1629. He is now honored in the Catholic and Anglican tradition as the patron saint of blacksmiths; goldsmiths; locksmiths; musicians; silversmiths; bellringers; Charlottetown (capital of Canada's Prince Edward Island); and Stepney, UK.

Other Dorset-related tokens of that era originated in Blandford, Poole, and Shaftesbury.