Elongated Coins - Columbian Expo
jmlanzaf
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I had posted my elongated large cent recently. It just arrived. I still love it.
While talking to @SiriusBlack via PM, I did a little internet search and discovered this old NY Times Article on elongated cents.
https://nytimes.com/1981/11/15/arts/numismatics-elongated-coins.html
Kind of interesting. I learned 2 things:
- The Columbian Expo was the 1st place in the U.S. to make elongated cents.
- There is actually an elongated 1893 dollar out there somewhere!
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More information:
https://money.org/blog/the-start-of-a-new-collectiblettp://](hhttps://www.money.org/blog/the-start-of-a-new-collectible
Bust half!
https://auctions.stacksbowers.com/lots/view/1-1N1CD/1893-columbian-exposition-elongated-1824-o-110-capped-bust-half-dollar-ef
Ok that Bust half is pretty awesome! 😲
btw, your second link has a typo error
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
weird. Thanks.
There's also some Canada large cents rolled that I found. A very neat 20 cent piece.
Apparently they could manually adjust the rollers, so they could roll anything! Supposedly they also rolled some gold coins, but I haven't found any photos.
I haven’t been able to figure out if it was done there at a booth or after the fact but there are also love tokens / pins / brooches made using the commemorative halves.
Now a gold elongated would be pretty killer to see too!
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
Several $5 gold are known and I think I remember hearing about a $10, I've seen every other U.S. $1 silver and under, bust and later, with the exception of a 3c silver and a bust half dime struck from original dies. You have to know your dies as the Martin & Dow -2d and -4a are regarded as open dies and odd denomination issues from these dies are highly suspect. I have seen one 3c nickel attempt but it was impossible to tell which die was used so that one is a ? as well. World coins from Canada and mostly European countries were also rolled including thalers, half crowns, Canada 50c and many minor copper coins. In most cases the customer supplied the coin but the operator also had supplies of current date nickels and cents on hand for mementos (at least at the 1901 and 1904 Expos ). Somewhere around here I have an elongated 1885 Liberty 5c from the WCE.
Great information. Thanks.
The 1885 LibNick must be in the bank but here's a WCE-1b on a France 2 Franc, KM-743 (1831-1848):
LOVE it.
I suspect that some of the brooches and other jewelry pieces were available at the fair; I 'm less certain about the fancy love tokens and the enameled coins but the Expo ran for six months and the vendors back then were able to adapt quickly so by July or August a completely different array of souvenirs was probably available. Attendance was estimated at 27 million so I'm sure a lot of product was sold, a lot was broken or lost or thrown away and a surprising amount has survived to this day.
Yes. The reason it is my favorite fair is the sheer volume of collectible knick knacks available.
Cool. I wonder if any of the roller dies are still around.
None from the Columbian Exposition... But I have this one from the LordMarcovan Exposition....
Cheers, RickO
Ooooops... Here is the reverse...Cheers, RickO
They're pretty neat
My bad - I should have explained above that an "open die" is one that still exists and may have/has been used to roll elongateds long after the original event or date of use. There are at least three Columbian Expo dies that are suspected of having been used long after the event (opinions vary on a couple of them) which is why determining the die variety can be important. This is especially true when dealing with the wild things such as rolls on gold coins and others as mentioned above.
There are open dies from later expositions and other events as well - these are noted in the Martin & Dow catalog "Yesterday's Elongateds" which is dated but still the standard for this field.
@tokenpro Would the Yesterdays Elongateds be the best resource then? There is someone on eBay that sells Columbian Exposition restrikes, but they usually use Lincoln cents and always clearly list restrike so there’s no confusion.
Collector of randomness. Photographer at PCGS. Lover of Harry Potter.
Yes, Yesterday's Elongateds (YE) is still the hard copy catalog of choice for the classic (pre-1963 or so) elongateds. YE is in its third printing but has not been updated since the original edition. The Elongated Collectors (TEC) have been threatening to publish an updated edition for some time but so far with no follow through. They do list unlisted types and new varieties on their web site (below) and are actively trying to add new info.
There is a separate large catalog of modern elongateds (about 1963 to 2010 or so?). Here is the web site for TEC which contains a lot of additional information: https://tecnews.org/
Never heard the term "open die" before. Learn something new everyday.:)
1891 LibNic
1893 Columbian Exposition
Great thread!
Whatever you are, be a good one. ---- Abraham Lincoln
An elongated Columbian Half Dollar would be awesome to see.
Jesse C. Kraft, Ph.D.
Resolute Americana Curator of American Numismatics
American Numismatic Society
New York City
Member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), British Numismatic Society (BNS), New York Numismatic Club (NYNC), Early American Copper (EAC), the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4), U.S. Mexican Numismatic Association (USMNA), Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC), Token and Medal Society (TAMS), and life member of the Atlantic County Numismatic Society (ACNS).
Become a member of the American Numismatic Society!
Ask and ye...
I have about 80 Liberty Nickels elongated at the Columbian expo, including a full set (1883 -1893 with both 1883 types, the No Cents being much harder to find)
I was a collector of 1893 medals and tokens and had an extensive collection of elongates from the Columbian Expo. I started with a US Type set and then added many foreign examples. Die #6, known as Cairo Street, is the rarest of the 6 dies. I have heard of 3 different examples of this. I owned 2 at the same time. Still own 1 of them. I have since sold the majority of that collection but kept one of each of the dies of elongates.
NICE!
Here is a list of 1893 Columbian Expo elongates that I owned:
3-Cent silver
1825 Large Cent
1834 Bust Quarter
1834 Dime
1844 Large Cent
1847 Large Cent
1851 Large Cent
1853 Dime
1855 Seated Half Dime
1856 Dime
1857 Eagle Cent
1858 Eagle Cent
1864 CN Indian Cent
1865 2-Cent
1866 3-Cent Nickel
1866 Shield Nickel with Rays
1873 Shield Nickel Without Rays
1875 Quarter
1876 Seated Quarter
1883 V Nickel – no cent
1890 Indian Head Cent
1891 Seated Dime
1892 Barber Dime
1892 Barber Quarter
1893 Liberty Nickel
1850 Bank of Upper Canada Penny
1854 English 10 Shilling
1861 English Half Penny
1870 English Penny
1870 Spanish 10-Centimos
1876 German 10 Pfennig
1882 Canadian Dime
1884 Canadian Large Cent
1884 Canadian Quarter
1887 Canadian Large Cent
1891 Austrian 1 Kreuzer
1891 Mexican 8-Reales
1892 Mexican Un Centavo
1893 Canadian Half Dime
1888 Love Token
Bread Token
Cleveland Token
Griesheimer Trade Token
Really love the oddball stuff on the list. 8 reales would be awesome!
I have a small U.S. type set in progress based on the 1893 elongates. I just added an 1876 Liberty Seated Half.
Does anyone slab these?
It would be great if PCGS did though some of these are pretty curved and may be hard to get into a slab!
Your collection was amazing! And your website was as well!
That half dollar would have been worth just under 15 bucks adjusted for inflation.. Imagine intentionally destroying $15 😵
I’ve done much more
The elongated large cent that I had was slabbed by NGC, so they do them. I don't know about PCGS. All the ones that Heritage has sold that were slabbed were all NGC:
https://coins.ha.com/c/search-results.zx?N=790+231+51&Nty=1&Ntt=elongated+Columbian&ic10=ArchiveTab-071515
Neat thread.
I own precisely 2 of these having just bought my second one, an 1893 Columbian Exposition elongated on an 1892-O barber quarter. My first is over a Ben Franklin CWT, a 151/430A. I was told that the CWT was scarce, but heck, I think they are all pretty scarce
Tom
I have close to 100 of these elongated on Liberty Nickels. I have a full date run (1883 No Cent - 1893).
I have only seen one of these (and it was out of my budget when sold on Ebay a few years ago)
I also have a Barber Quarter and Barber Dime (both sold as nickels). All of mine are in NGC holders.
Great discussion. I am a collector of anything associated with the Columbian Exposition half dollar. Although I have seen many rare examples of elongateds from the fair including gold pieces, I always wondered if there was an actual Columbian Half dollar elongate created at the fair. I searched for many years for an elusive example that was rumored to exist. I finally found my example a few years ago. It is an actual 1893 Columbian Half dollar M&D 2A variety. It has been certified by NGC. As far as I know, it is the only example on a Columbian Half host coin that exists. If you know of another, please let me know so I can correspond with the owner.
Just seeing this. I have 2 of these elongates. the first is over an 1892 barber quarter and I would grade it au. The second I have not seen anywhere before. It is an 1893 Columbian Expo struck over a CWT- a Franklin 151/430 to be exact. Has anyone ever seen one of these?
Tom
Pictures?
An interesting article showing the 'varieties' from across the street
https://ngccoin.com/news/article/12103/
Wow, cool thread!
@MWallace
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )