The Great Chicago Exposition of 1873

Zoins

I picked up this Elgin Watch piece from Stack's Bowers's ANA auction and was going to post there but thought it would be nice to have a thread on the 1873 Chicago Exposition.

I'm a fan of pieces struck at expositions so I was happy to add the following to my collection. I was impressed the Virgil Brand MS62 specimen sold for $1800 in 2017 but that one doesn't have the discoloration and I'm still not sure if that was an anomaly. I also happen to have a vintage Elgin Watch die which may have been on the logo side of their 1874 Chicago Exposition token.

Please post any info on Elgin striking these within the exposition building. Info on the designer, J.S. Weber, is greatly appreciated as well.

Various building images follow from: https://chicagology.com/rebuilding/rebuilding016/

There is a book on this as well:

• https://froufrou4youyou.wordpress.com/tag/inter-state-exposition-of-1873-chicago/

coinsarefun

Super nice example. I like it very much.

ricko

Nice piece indeed.... though the hour hand seems to be too far advanced when compared to the minute hand... I know, picky picky... Great pictures of the exposition hall and site....Imagine all those horse carriages... and related detritus. Cheers, RickO

Meltdown

Very nice!

AlexinPA

Nice display, thanks.

sparky64

Sorry, no info to contribute but great thread.

Stella

This is neat!

The watch face on the reverse is cool and reminds me a bit of this later reverse design: https://coins.ha.com/itm/20th-century-tokens-and-medals/tokens-and-medals/-c1900-06-ms-cd-peacock-jeweler-chicago-ht-m19-ms63-brown-ngc-even-brown-patina-from-the-virgil-brand-collect/a/131791-21442.s?ic4=ListView-Thumbnail-071515

DCW

I like the Elgin Watch tokens!
Very nice piece, but this is not the same variety which sold for $1800 at Heritage last year. That one is R-IL-EL-9. It has a similar design to yours but has a legend to commemorate the "Contributions to 1873 Yellow Fever Sufferers."
I believe that huge price it commanded at Heritage was indeed an anomaly, as it is on eBay right now for about half the price of the 2017 auction

Zoins

@DCW Glad you spotted that! I caught that some time after I posted it but I was curious how long it would take and who would spot it. It's interesting that on the two reverses, the small seconds arm is pointing to a different number and the X in XII is also done differently with the heavier line being different in each.

I'm still curious to find information on what looks to be the engraver, J. S. Weber.

DCW

Father time (often confused with the Devil) is featured on most of the obverses:
I like how he casts the traditional hourglass to the ground while proudly holding an Elgin timepiece.
Such a striking image that Russ Rulau put it on the cover of his monumental book on tokens.
From what I gather, these pieces were put in the watch boxes in case the customer needed to make repairs in the future. They were serial numbered. Youd then bring in your watch with one of these medals and the watchmaker could match the serial number and see of it was under warranty.