"Spiny Lighthouse Seascape"
lordmarcovan
Posts: 43,980 ✭✭✭✭✭
"Spiny Lighthouse Seascape"
Pictorial love token on 1864 two-cent piece
Obverse: original shield motif, unaltered. Reverse: seascape with lighthouse and sailboats in square frame with edge embellishments. Host coin: 1864 USA 2-cent piece. Ex- "fairoakscoin", eBay, 11/13/2014.
Though I had sold off my old love token collection, I continued browsing that category on eBay, and one day I spotted this one. A two-cent piece is a slightly less common host coin for a love token, and this had an appealing pictorial carving on the reverse, so I made an offer and bought it. So what if the lighthouse here looks a bit more like a sea urchin perched atop a pedestal, or a prickly pear cactus? I like it, and actually think this is a pretty well-engraved piece.
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
Pictorial love token on 1864 two-cent piece
Obverse: original shield motif, unaltered. Reverse: seascape with lighthouse and sailboats in square frame with edge embellishments. Host coin: 1864 USA 2-cent piece. Ex- "fairoakscoin", eBay, 11/13/2014.
Though I had sold off my old love token collection, I continued browsing that category on eBay, and one day I spotted this one. A two-cent piece is a slightly less common host coin for a love token, and this had an appealing pictorial carving on the reverse, so I made an offer and bought it. So what if the lighthouse here looks a bit more like a sea urchin perched atop a pedestal, or a prickly pear cactus? I like it, and actually think this is a pretty well-engraved piece.
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
0
Comments
- Marcus Tullius Cicero, 106-43 BC
BHNC #203
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Very well done for a simple design that I don't even care you can see the sailboats at night.
Quite a good idea, engrave a coin with a large surface area made in a soft metal with a low face value and then silver it. However, this is the first one I have ever seen like that!
Neat
Menomonee Falls Wisconsin USA
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistr...dset.aspx?s=68269&ac=1">Musky 1861 Mint Set
<< <i>I like that a lot! Question since I know nothing about love tokens- Is there a way to tell if the engraving is period correct to the coin and not recent? >>
Mostly a matter of style. I've no doubt this one is 19th century, but it was probably done after the host coin had circulated a while, perhaps circa 1880s to 1890s, when these were at the peak of their popularity.
<< <i>Hard to tell from you image... Is it Brown or was it Silvered? >>
Not my images- I am temporarily using the eBay seller's pictures, since all I have at hand right now is a scanner and it came out looking horrible on that. The coin is brown and not silvered.
The engraved side has a seemingly random rotation in relation to the obverse.
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
<< <i>just crossover into "hobo nickels" already >>
I've got nothing against hobo nickels, actually. I think they're pretty neat. But I also think I'll stick to the 19th century.
I just stumbled across a piece I used to own, on eBay.
That's the thing about love tokens and engraved pieces. They're all unique. I was startled to see that IHC being offered. I'm going to try to get it back.
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
<< <i>Were many people sailing for pleasure in the 1860's and 70's? >>
Plenty, yes, though as it is today, yachting was a rich man's sport. So your eastern robber baron types probably were. The America's Cup races began in the 1850s, if I remember correctly.
Finally updated this with new pix. While my photography isn't terrific, they're at least comparable to the old seller's images, which died on me.
Collector since 1976. On the CU forums here since 2001.
My YouTube Channel