The Pennsylvania Cabinet

Zoins

A few weeks ago the Pennsylvania Cabinet collection of tokens was sold by Centles on eBay over several weeks. There was a lot of rare tokens in the collection including a gold 1879 Grant Parade US Mint medal.

Anyone know about the Pennsylvania Cabinet?

It was a great collection because of it's breadth and focus. I've never seen some of the tokens in the sale before and it had a fitting focus on Pennsylvania, Philadelphia in particular, though I saw one Pittsburgh store card for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

I picked up a number of tokens in the collection. Here's one of my favorites that I was able to pick up.

"I Never Say Can't" F. C. Key & Sons, NGC MS63 pop 0/1/0 - Pennsylvania Cabinet Specimen

This is a token by William H. Key for his father's company F. C. Key & Sons. F. C. Key and Sons moved to the 123 Arch St. address around 1850. In 1857 or 1858, the company started to get mail at 329 Arch Street so this might be from 1850–1858. In 1865, William H. Key took over the firm and renamed it "Ornamental Medal, Seal, and Die Makers Co."

The 4th Edition of Rulau only mentions a copper specimen as 181-G but jumps to 181-K, skipping over 181-H, 181-I, and 181-J. The copper specimen photo in the book is from Steve Tanenbaum's collection.

Of note, I've looked but I cannot find the middle names for Frederick C. Key and William H. Key yet. Please post if you know them.

• History: http://www.jepsculpture.com/ben-location.shtml
• Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96080152/william-h-key

coinsarefun

I watched that one and really like it. I bought 2 and submitted to PCGS to crossover.
Never have done that before except for one franklin.
.
I’m pretty sure broadstruck knows about the pa. Cabinet

Zoins

Thanks Stef. Please post the TrueViews when you get them! I bid on a few and only lost 2. I wonder if they are the 2 you picked up

This seems almost like one of those once in a lifetime collections given how rare some of the pieces seem so it was exciting to be a part of. I also spent some time in Philadelphia so I have a personal connection to these pieces.

coinsarefun

I sure hope they cross. I also said a min of what they are now. So both should cross but I have a
felling only one will

Zoins

@coinsarefun said:
I sure hope they cross. I also said a min of what they are now. So both should cross but I have a
felling only one will

Good luck. @keets has reported good results for cross-overs with a minimum grade as the NGC grade.

ricko

I really like the design and motto.... Long a fundamental mantra of mine when embarking on a difficult task/project....Cheers, RickO

keets

Good luck. @keets has reported good results for cross-overs with a minimum grade as the NGC grade.

actually, I believe what I said is that after I have submitted with "Same" as my grade choice with Crossovers and DNC'd, upon re-submission with "Any" as my grade choice about half crossed at the original same grade, the rest at one point lower.

Zoins

@keets said:
Good luck. @keets has reported good results for cross-overs with a minimum grade as the NGC grade.

actually, I believe what I said is that after I have submitted with "Same" as my grade choice with Crossovers and DNC'd, upon re-submission with "Any" as my grade choice about half crossed at the original same grade, the rest at one point lower.

Thanks for the clarification. Definitely useful as exonumia grows more popular at our host.

DCW

Great piece. I, too was watching it go! Kudos to you for stepping up. I've never seen that one before.
Do you know if it commemorates a specific event or is it just a mountain climber motif?
So many interesting pieces in that collection. I scored a few Lovett storecards just for inventory, because they were interesting and at good prices. I'll post some in a bit...

tokenpro

@DCW said:
Great piece. I, too was watching it go! Kudos to you for stepping up. I've never seen that one before.
Do you know if it commemorates a specific event or is it just a mountain climber motif?
So many interesting pieces in that collection. I scored a few Lovett storecards just for inventory, because they were interesting and at good prices. I'll post some in a bit...

My thought is that is just a stock piece used as needed. The piece below just came in with a miscellaneous group from another dealer -- unfortunately the subject matter is not very exciting. As you may have heard me say, it's a good thing religion depends on donations because numismatically it certainly doesn't sell...

Zoins

@tokenpro said:

@DCW said:
Great piece. I, too was watching it go! Kudos to you for stepping up. I've never seen that one before.
Do you know if it commemorates a specific event or is it just a mountain climber motif?
So many interesting pieces in that collection. I scored a few Lovett storecards just for inventory, because they were interesting and at good prices. I'll post some in a bit...

My thought is that is just a stock piece used as needed. The piece below just came in with a miscellaneous group from another dealer -- unfortunately the subject matter is not very exciting. As you may have heard me say, it's a good thing religion depends on donations because numismatically it certainly doesn't sell...

Thanks for posting this @tokenpro. I was really curious what else this die may have been paired with. I'll need to look for one of these now.

@DCW I always thought it was a general inspiration piece, but I do wonder what inspired the piece. The jagged peaks remind me the Alps and I've wondered if they Keys came from an area close to, or were inspired by, the Alps. I've done a bit of searching online for their homeland but haven't found any info yet.

Here's one a copper I found that sold a while back. Would love to pick one up:

gabisdaddi

@Zoins Yeah, I know this is an old post ...
Is this medal you have?

If so, about what did it cost?

That it was Steve's is interesting....