• The oldest lead tokens in Britain, known as tesserae, date from Roman times and are not very common. Little is known about them.
• Several medieval series in pewter, as described by Mitchiner, are generally thought of as being deriving from London and other large cities. They include various pieces debatably thought to be tavern tokens, counters or for ecclesiastical use, although the latter types are not necessarily to be identified with communion tokens. The supposed ecclesiastical pieces are often extremely small, with a diameter of about 11mm.. The earliest of these series date from about 1200 and are thought to have been a token coinage used by pilgrims.
• The main 17th century token series is almost entirely in copper and brass, but seems to have some kinship in design with a few of the better-designed lead pieces; in particular, in the way that they use issuers' initials.
• The mainly Scottish communion token series is contemporary and struck at similar date almost solely in lead; it will have little in common in terms of usage, but could be confused in the early years where there was extreme simplicity of design.
• The hop token series as defined by Alan Henderson, starting c.1770 and continuing until the late 19th century, seems to emerge naturally from agricultural lead and is probably that with which it has most affinity. The range of numeric values {1,3,6,12,30,60,120}, usually indicating volume in bushels, is mirrored on a number of crude leaden pieces.
• Lead token classifiacations

Bob Alvey, 1980s Proposed list, 2004

1. Petalled flower Petalled flower
2. Initials Initials
3. Segments Segments
4. Lis Lis
5. Anchors Anchors
6. Ship Ship
7. Hatching Hatching/Grid
8. Birds Numeral
9. Keys Irregular or compound geometric
10. Heads Heads and busts
11. Bottles Tavern Utensils
12. Squared Geometric Squared Geometric
13. Head of Wheat Framework
14. Kite Crosses
15. Religious Religious
16. Arms Arms, shields or heraldic designs
17. Trees and Plants Trees and Plants, and their produce
18. Birds
19. Animals, including fish and insects
20. Merchant Marks & other monograms
21. Trades, other than milling
22. Mill-related
23. Buildings
24. Obscure characters
25. Misc objects {royal and imperial}
26. Misc objects {celestial}
27. Misc objects {other}
28. Outer rim series {several}
29. Words or significant abbreviations
30. Pellets or other simple designs
31. Circular or elliptical geometric
32. People, other than heads

Great reference site for lead tokens and explanations of types

http://www.mernick.org.uk/lnc/dpowell/leadtokens.htm

The primary reference on British lead tokens is the two part work by M.Mitchiner and A.Skinner in the British Numismatic Journal:

1. English Tokens, c.1200-1425 {BNJ Vol 53, 1983}
2. English Tokens, c.1425-1672 {BNJ Vol 54, 1984}

David Powell's classification page

http://www.mernick.org.uk/leadtokens/newsletters/LTTapril05asPDF.pdf

Medieval lead tokens 1200 - 1500 AD

Very unusual double sided type 2 medieval lead token

Medieval Boy Bishop lead token

Obv Long cross and pellet

Rev Bishop mitre

17thC token like the Obv of a Charles 1st coin with the shield and harp.

The legend reads SVFFOLK which means it is a Suffolk token

Stunning 16thC lead token

Obv Spread eagle

Obv Tudor Rose

Great find, large 17thC lead medallion - matches smaller tokens of the period

Very rare find, 15thC type 2 lead long cross and pellets lead token but with a detailed obverse. Appears to be two sword/daggers with the letter N

17thC lead token

Obv H W T

Obv Boars head facing right

17th/18th C lead tokens