Touch pieces

A touch piece is a coin or medal believed to cure disease, bring good luck, influence people's behaviour, carry out a specific practical action, etc.

What most touch pieces have in common is that they have to be touched or in close physical contact for the power concerned to be obtained and/or transferred. Once this is achieved, the power is permanently present in the coin, which effectively becomes an amulet.

Coins which had been given at Holy Communion could be rubbed on parts of the body suffering from rheumatism and it was thought that they would effect a cure. Medallions or medalets showing the "Devil defeated" were specially minted in Britain and distributed amongst the poor in the belief that they would reduce disease and sickness. The tradition of touch pieces goes back to the time of Ancient Rome, when the Emperor Vespasian (69–79 AD) gave coins to the sick at a ceremony known as "the touching."

Many touch piece coins were treasured by the recipients and sometimes remained in the possession of families for many generations, such as with the "Lee Penny" obtained by Sir Simon Lockhart from the Holy Land whilst on a crusade. This coin, an Edward I groat, still held by the family, has a triangular-shaped stone of a dark red colour set into it. The coin is kept in a gold box given by Queen Victoria to General Lockhart. It can supposedly cure rabies, haemorrhage, and various animal ailments. The coin was exempted from the Church of Scotland's prohibition on charms and was lent to the citizens of Newcastle during the reign of King Charles I to protect them from the plague. A sum of between £1,000 and £6,000 was pledged for its return.

The legend of the Lee Penny gave rise to Sir Walter Scott's novel The Talisman. The amulet was placed in water, which was then drunk to provide the cure. No money was ever taken for its use. In 1629 Isobel Young sought to borrow the stone to cure their cattle. The family of Lockart of Lee would not lend the stone in its silver setting; however, they gave flagons of water in which the coin had been steeped.

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