Springfield So-Called Dollars - Pynchon House Revisited - HK-608 HK-609
I recently picked up a pair of Springfield 250th Anniversary So-Called Dollars, HK-608 and HK-609. I've been interested in anything depicting the Pynchon House ever since picking up Bolen's Pynchon House dies and learning he lived in Springfield.
The HK-608 is raw with only 7 graded by NGC and none by PCGS. The HK-609 is the only one graded by PCGS though NGC has slabbed between 10-20 of these. The white metal piece often comes holed but I've never seen the bronze piece holed. I also haven't seen the white metal piece still attached to its hanger yet.
In my research, I also learned these were created by William H Warner & Bro. in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 76. D. Wayne Johnson's MedalBlog says the following:
WARNER, William H. (fl 1868-1899) engraver, medalist, Philadelphia. William formed a firm, Wm. H. Warner & Brother (1868) with brother Charles K. Warner.
I also learned that Mrs. WIlliam H. Warner was president of the Salamagundi, which dedicated itself to history, book reviews and higher literary studies".
1886 Springfield 250th Anniversary HK-608 Bronze
I was happy to pick this up raw as slabbed prices have been going up.
1886 Springfield 250th Anniversary HK-609 White Metal
In hand, this looks much more gray and less yellow. It's also quite reflective and prooflike. A number of these have the small black flecks on the planchet. On this piece, these are more on the reverse where I've seen some which have them more on the obverse.
The Seal of Springfield - Obverse of the medal
Here's a bit of information on the obverse seal from Wikipedia:
Whereas the city ordinance describes a seal produced by engraver Richard Paine, the rendition from which the modern depiction is derived from was carved by engraver Thomas Chubbuck. The seal contains a number of scenes of Springfield's historic buildings. In its crest is a picture of the Springfield Armory's arsenal building with the American flag, the only recognizable landmark of the seal extant today. Below this crest sits a shield with an embellished trim and an arrow running through it from east to west. From the top, clockwise, the first scene shows a train leaving the city's first Union Station, crossing the former North End Bridge over the Connecticut River; the house on the lower right is the "Old Fort", the residence of John Pychon, built on the homestead of his father William Pynchon. Erected in 1660, it was the first brick building in the settlement, and served as a safehouse during the siege on Springfield during King Philip's War, and remained on the corner of what is now Fort Street, presently the Student Prince/Fort Restaurant, until 1831 when it was razed for new construction.[4][5] The scene on the lower left shows three smaller buildings and two steamboats on river; prior to the construction of Interstate 91, the Connecticut River played a more significant role in the livelihood of the city.[6]
History of Springfield
Here's a bit of information on Springfield from Wikipedia:
Springfield was founded in 1636 by English Puritan William Pynchon as "Agawam Plantation" under the administration of the Connecticut Colony. In 1641 it was renamed after Pynchon's hometown of Springfield, Essex, England, following incidents, including trade disputes as well as Captain John Mason's hostilities toward native tribes, that precipitated the settlement joining the Massachusetts Bay Colony.[20][21] During its early existence, Springfield flourished both as an agricultural settlement and as a trading post, although its prosperity waned dramatically during (and after) King Philip's War in 1675, when natives laid siege to it and burned it to the ground as part of the ongoing campaign. During that attack, three-quarters of the original settlement was burned to the ground, with many of Springfield's residents survived by taking refuge in John Pynchon's brick house, the "Old Fort", the first such house to be built in the Connecticut River Valley. Out of the siege, Miles Morgan and his sons were lauded as heroes; as one of the few homesteads to survive the attack, alerting troops in Hadley, as well as Toto, often referred to as the "Windsor Indian" who, running 20 miles from Windsor, Connecticut to the settlement, was able to give advance warning of the attack.[22]
Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Volume 76
Comments
Thank you for the associated history with this interesting piece...Cheers, RickO
So very cool and ton of history with these items. This is why I switched years ago from traditional
coins to SCD's, tokens and medals. Much more real history and much more rarities.
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
Super post. Thanks for all the info. A very nice set of pieces.
Born and raised in Springfield.
Those are so much more interesting than Morgan Dollars!
I've been curious about the marks on this piece ever since I picked it up, and found this blog article by Brian Alty of Northeast Numismatics:
https://www.northeastcoin.com/blog.jsp
Normally, I don't like to quote an entire article but the NEN blog doesn't seem to allow deep linking to a specific article which makes it hard to navigate to and also search. I've purchased a number fo coins from them so hopefully they can update their blog
Here's one gilted... gotta love finding varieties....
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
That looks awesome! Beautiful piece!
I'll have to keep an eye out for that!
Do you know if Jeff and Bill will be listing this in their SCD catalogs?
So-Called Dollars are like a box of chocolates...
The main forthcoming book is in two volumes; in general, anything with the word "expo" is in volume 1. I think they are hoping to have volume 1 out in 2021.
Volume 2 (the 1880s section) should list these Springfield pieces.... i'm guessing 2023...
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
In 1902, the William H. Warner & Bro published a catalog of their available medals. It was owned by Q. David Bowers for some time and republished in full in the October 1999 TAMS journal (scroll down to page 129 where the catalog begins):
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/525458
If you want to start collecting Warner pieces it's a good place to begin.
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
Way cool I was born in Springfield and live 20 minutes d from there
Great catalog! Thanks for posting the link!
Springfield has a very rich history of numismatics! Are you in the Springfield Coin Club?
There's a lot of good information on Springfield's history in this other thread:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1021588/bolens-pynchon-house-die-pair#latest
no i am not a member but have been to a few meetings. there are some good members there as well
I'm not aware of a great many medals made by Warner after about 1903, so i'm not sure if this catalog was a sell off of their inventory. It would be interesting to try to track medal makers each decade between 1850 and 1940... is there a book of active die sinkers like this ?
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
I found mention in the Baker book of two interesting things on Baker-459 (the 1883 centennial anniversary of the British "evacuating" New York); they are:
(i) that the obverse bust of Washington (from J. Houdon) was made by Wm.Warner from a hub by Charles Cushing Wright
(ii) that the wreath on the reverse of Baker 459 is the engraving work of Anthony Paquet
So, it would seem that the reverse wreath on the Springfield medals (made by Wm Warner & Bro) is the engraving work of Anthony Paquet, the famous assistant US mint engraver (Philadelphia mint). Very cool.
More info on Anthony Paquet:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1047940/anthony-conrad-paquet-german-american-engraver
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
This is very interesting, both for the obverse and the reverse of Baker-459. Is Baker-459 done by George Hampden Lovett with a wreath from Ahtony Conrad Paquet?
Here's Baker-459 from the Willaim Sphon Baker collection:
The obverse of Baker-459 is very similar to Musante GW-1004, Baker E-452, Raymond-266a which is attributed to George Hampden Lovett by Stack's Bowers here:
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/3-PDNHX/1791-ca-1886-chatham-artillery-medal-first-obverse-by-george-hampden-lovett-musante-gw-1004-baker-e-452-var-hk-unlisted-unl
medals
https://photos.app.goo.gl/hz9Sh46ePLrqxefi6
nice medals
Not sure why Stacks attributed the obverse of GW-1004 to GH Lovett when it's attributed to being produced by the Wm. Warner & Bro in the Musante book (see GW-1002).
A So-Called Dollar and Slug Collector... Previously "Pioneer" on this site...
Here's my HK-609 with the Stack's photos which show a much whiter view, which is more like what it's like in hand, at least the obverse which is white and blazing with deep mirrors. I need to take a look at the reverse again.