The Royal Tailors Merchant in Chicago..... The Better The Grade The Better Trade

coinsarefun

1890's CHICAGO R-CHI-144 THE ROYAL TAILORS NGC MS 64 PL
Chicago Illinois struck in Aluminum with Reeded edge and pictorial
of Tiger charging through the jungle. Now this is a pictorial! Best one I could find in several years.
I thought I found the best a few years back but this is much better.
Noted by Rulau as one of the most collected token of the 1890's
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I posted another one earlier but this example far exceeds my first example
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Link to The Scrapbook

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CaptHenway

I never saw one of those in my 25 years working in coin shops in Chicago.

ZoidMeister

That's cool, "macarena cool" . . . . . .

ricko

Nice token... Tigers have intrigued me for a long time - neat experience with one many years ago. Cheers, RickO

291fifth

A very nice example of a token I have never encountered.

Smudge

I am having a hard time imagining that dandy hunting tigers.

ThreeCentSilverFL

That’s a neat token.

tokenpro

The Royal Tailors token is a fun piece with decent pictorial engraving on the obverse. It is not particularly hard to find in circulated grades but unc pieces are more elusive. (Whoever made the OP token got lucky - I could never get ride-along particulates passed the graders.)

I have a nice graded example somewhere to go along with a large embossed cover to one of their semi-annual catalogs but my favorite piece is this printed celluloid advertisement that gets short rotations on my walls. It is one of the larger printed celluloid pieces that most antique dealers have ever seen (about 20" x 14") and is pristine with bright colors. It only gets displayed for short periods as sunlight can quickly degrade even sheet celluloid. This was a fortunate purchase 25+ years ago at one of my most lucrative antique shops on the way to Chicago - I"ve been tempted by some surprising offers but I still like it too much even with its display limitations (besides, I've got more hangings than wall space to accommodate them). Sorry for the quick, poor images.

coinsarefun

@tokenpro thank you very much for posting these. Of course I too would love to own that one.
Please keep me in mind when it’s time.
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What grade is yours? Can you post it? I’ve never seen one like I just posted and would love to see another.
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Another impossible merchant to find I better grade is the Moxie Wagon. I really want to own one of those too.

CaptHenway

@Smudge said:
I am having a hard time imagining that dandy hunting tigers.

Back then tigers roamed freely in the vncennity of Blue Island, Illinois.

messydesk

@CaptHenway said:

@Smudge said:
I am having a hard time imagining that dandy hunting tigers.

Back then tigers roamed freely in the vncennity of Blue Island, Illinois.

It's much more dangerous now.

tokenpro

The slabbed Royal Tailors is in one of the SD boxes -- inventory says it's a NGC 64. I did turn up two more while looking, one a damaged dog & the one below.

(I always saw a veritable zoo along 63rd where every block had at least five bars and every bar used tokens.)

coinsarefun

Thanks again @tokenpro I’m really wondering now just how many of these are better grade like yours (64) and mine? I would hazard to guess less than 10.

kaz

"The better the grade, the bigger the trade."
I call that numismatically prescient!

tokenpro

@coinsarefun said:
Thanks again @tokenpro I’m really wondering now just how many of these are better grade like yours (64) and mine? I would hazard to guess less than 10.

I would say that there are quite a few more than 10 out there based on what I've seen. In the early days of the IKO (IN-KY-OH) Token Show, every year dealer Hank Spangenberger would bring a small suitcase full of many types of tokens & medals of all sizes and would auction it off at the show. The contents were part of the huge group of tokens from Cincinnati, Chicago & other die sinkers that Sol Kaplan of Cincinnati had purchased over the years. Always included were an array of 35mm & 38mm unc aluminum advertising tokens from the 1890 - 1910 period many of which appear in the Gay 90's section of the Rulau catalog. There were Royal Tailors, Haymarket Theatre, De Golyer, Evening Journal, Thomas Kane, Johnson Motors, Mandarin Tea and more in most of the groups & always duplicates of some. Hank did this for much of the 80's into the mid-90's. Many of these aluminum piece could be had for $8 - $20 from a number of dealers of the period.

If you look through the mail bid catalogs published regularly by the 6 to 8 main exonumia dealers of that golden age you will see many of the same pieces in top condition offered in almost every sale. So relatively little non-classic exonumia has been slabbed (and half of what has been, shouldn't be) that the current on-line auction records & fixed price offerings can be deceiving. A little bit of research into pre-2000 off-line sales can provide a very different view of what is out there.

coinsarefun

As usual thanks so much again @tokenpro Good to know that I may find a prime example one day!
Do you have a link or search works for me to check into the records? I would love to browse through.

Broadstruck

They are very common mildly to heavily circulated.

This is the first UNC I've seen with the full as struck details on the tiger.