Rare Bristol Old Vic free-ticket theatre token expected to fetch up to £10k at auction

A theatre token dating back to 1766 which gives the owner unlimited access to shows is expected to sell for thousands of pounds at auction.

The small silver token was one of only 50 minted for the original shareholders of the Bristol Old Vic on King Street and entitled the owner to watch every performance for free.

It is expected to fetch up to £10,000 when it goes under the hammer at Auctioneum in Bristol on 21 November.

Auctioneer Andrew Stowe said to have, "a piece of Bristol Old Vic's history is incredibly special."

He added: "The theatre on King Street went on to become the Old Vic, which went on to spawn the Old Vic Theatre School where some of the world's most famous actors trained.

"The knock-on story for both the history of Bristol and the wider world is just so, so special."

A total of 50 original shareholders or proprietors were given a token in return for raising £50 to help fund the construction of the Bristol Old Vic - formerly known as the Theatre Royal - between 1764 and 1766.

The inscription on the token - ticket No.31 - states: "The proprietor of this ticket is entitled to the sight of every performance to be exhibited in this house."

The reverse reads: "King Street, Bristol Theatre / May 30, 1766."

Mr Stowe said of the 50 tokens minted, only 20 are known to still exist, making it "incredibly rare".

"Every now and again, another token gets discovered and this is just one such of those newly discovered tokens," he said. "It's a proper piece of Bristol history."

Records show that ticket No.31 was given to shareholder Daniel Harson, but by 1816 the coin had found its way into the possession of John Palmer.

In the 19th century, the token changed hands several times to include Theatre Lessee's James Henry Chute in 1861 and Andrew Melville in 1887.

In 1925, the Final Dividend List shows ticket No.31 as being owned by A. A. Levy-Langfield, wherein it stayed in the family until being purchased by its current owner in 2009.

Token No.31 carries an estimate of £5,000 to £10,000 and goes under the hammer at Bristol-based Auctioneum on 21 November.