My Lucky Ship Just Came In

WillieBoyd2

It's been coming since 1932!

Prosperity Lucky Ship 1932 Good Luck Coin
White metal, 30 mm, 10.38 gm
Obverse:
Woman standing holding cornucopia, rising sun to right
PROSPERITY / 1932 / LUCKY COIN
Reverse:
Sailing ship facing right
LUCKY SHIP / SUCCESS TO YOU

This token was possibly manufactured to "cheer people up" during the Great Depression of the 1930's.

They have been used in a number of films as prop coins, including "Intruder in the Dust" (1949).

Here's my hope that we all find our Lucky Ship in the New Year!

The error:

The token is struck with coin orientation, like US coins are.

The faint letters on the obverse match the letters on the reverse if one rotates the reverse image 180° and flips the image horizontally.

Image showing normal obverse and reverse rotated and flipped horizontally.

I believe that this is a "brockage" error and that the token obverse was struck by the reverse of another token and was then struck by the correct obverse die.

Any comments?

WillieBoyd2

Another one with the same error!

Prosperity Lucky Ship 1932 Good Luck Coin - Second one

Apparently many were made with this error.

These tokens have appeared in several motion pictures including:

The Courtship of Andy Hardy (1942)
Background to Danger (1943)
Blazing Sixes (1937)
Bright Leaf (1950)
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Intruder in the Dust (1949)
Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
The Mark of Zorro (1940)

seanq

I think maybe the obverse has a strong die clash? Whatever it was it persisted for most of the die's life, as the first coin you posted has a large die crack through the O of PROSPERITY that is not present on the second coin.

Sean Reynolds

Namvet69

Me like.

Sapyx

I'd agree with a major die clash, not a brockage. With a brockage, no remnant of the actual obverse image should remain; the entire obverse would be a mirror-incuse version of the reverse.

The fact that multiple examples of the token all exhibit the same effect also points to die clash, rather than brockage.

I suppose the question then would be, how easy is it to obtain one of these tokens that does not show the die clash? If the clash happened during initial die testing, and the token-makers said "Meh. just make 'em anyway, the customer's not paying us for a second die" then it's possible every single one of them has the die clash.