"A broken coin would be best for poor people"
As is pointed out in Chambers, the Gimmell Ring was an established custom that lasted right into the 19th century - it is mentioned in Hard's 'Far From the Madding Crowd', when Sergeant Troy presets his lover Fanny with one he buys from a stall at the fair.
These would have been two cheap metal rings rings riveted together - the lovers made stratches across the two of them so that, when they are re-joined, the marks matched.
Mour elabourate Gimmell rings actually fit together and could prove extremely expensive - you could still buy reproductions of them at 'Past Times' a few yras ago.
Gimmell ring
"back comes a heavy-set, one-legged,"
This scenario forms part of the plot of Mrs Gaskell's 'Sylvia's Lovers', where a young man is pressed to sea and returns to the girl he left behind burned by cannon fire from taking part in a sea-fight.
Jim Carroll