The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
W. Foster ( - )
From the Token Corresponding Society Webpage (12 Nov 2011), an entry on "Calendar Medals" (http://www.tokensociety.org.uk/topics/calendar.shtml):Calendar medals first appeared, in several countries of mainland Europe, during the 17th century. At their simplest, they told you the day of the week on which the Sundays occurred, or perhaps when the first of each month occurred, plus the number of days in those months. Many of them were much more elaborate, attempting to list a variety of astronomical phenomena, of which the lunar phases and sunset times rank amongst the more obvious. The amount of data to be accommodated is considerable, in consequence of which the lettering is often very small and the pieces themselves decidedly large; 42-44 mm diameter is not uncommon, and anything up to 60mm possible. Most are in the range 37-44mm.
Most early pieces made use of the fact that, since there are seven days in the week and a leap year every four years, the pattern of days on which Sunday falls repeats every 28 years; thus, if you knew where in the cycle the current year was, and that was all you wanted to know, one piece would suffice for a long time. Others made lists of years for as many years as could be fitted on the piece. There were many experiments as to how to make the best use of the space available, and considerable variety of design in consequence. The lack of a leap day in Gregorian year 1700, however, disturbed the pattern; in addition to which, pieces for individual years started appearing intermittently from the 1680s. Some of those by the British manufacturer, W. Foster, are amongst the first.
In the closing years of the 17th century, also, references to the ecclesiastical calendar start to appear; initially the date of Easter, from which all other days can be derived, but later some other feasts as well. The earliest ecclesiastical pieces coincide with the last of the datelist multi-year pieces, and on some of these lists of Easters appear; months "1" and "2" on the entries indicating March and April respectively, a reminder of the fact that, in some European countries at least, the Gregorian calendar was not introduced until 1752. Linked print sources: as Mentions or references - Ducatus Leodiensis; or the topography of the town and parish of Leedes and parts adjacent ...
References in Documents:
Thoresby, Musaeum Thoresbyanum (1713)
Bigness of a Crown-Piece. Don.
ted Brick-Tiles, contrived and made by Addle-Mill
(who sent it me); it prevents a great
Consumption of Hair-Cloths that
he formerly used in drying Oats,
&c.