John Matthews Soda Apparatus medal struck in SILVER!

DCW

NY630AV-1f John Matthews Soda Apparatus, NGCMS63 ex. Donald Groves Partrick.

Happy to have added this one into my special box of 20. This piece is amazing! I picked this up from Heritage's auction of the Partrick Collection of Civil War Tokens a few months back. It is struck on a double thick planchet, which just so happens to be silver. This is the only one I've ever seen or heard about. Copper examples on regular planchets are fairly common. Could this be a presentation piece for Matthews himself?

John Matthews was known as the "Soda Fountain King" for mainstreaming the idea of bringing them into pharmacies and stores in America. Some of them still remain and are quite ornate and collectable.
The medals he issued for his business are fantastic. One of the better known motifs is the "cherub beating off a bear with a monkey wrench."

Thanks for looking!

kaz

What a great looking piece! I remember a year or 2 ago Matthews' home was for sale, featured in the NYT. It would go nicely with your collection!

coinsarefun

Gawd that is so beautiful! I wanted that one badly but went somewhat over my budget.
It’s a fantastic piece!

Zoins

Beautiful piece Den! Congrats on picking it up!

Do we know who struck this piece? Is it likely that this piece was done by K. Müller as the copper one shown?

ricko

@Zoins ... It does say Muller under the bust. I have not seen an explanation for the fish or eagle though... Cheers, RickO

Zoins

@ricko said:
@Zoins ... It does say Muller under the bust. I have not seen an explanation for the fish or eagle though... Cheers, RickO

Ah, very nice!

Anyone know Müller’s first name?

DCW

@Zoins said:

@ricko said:
@Zoins ... It does say Muller under the bust. I have not seen an explanation for the fish or eagle though... Cheers, RickO

Ah, very nice!

Anyone know Müller’s first name?

Karl Muller, a German medalist and sculptor. He created both this medal and the cherub beating a bear one as well.

As a side note, he also designed the amazing Monument at John Matthews grave in New York.

ms70

Why is he trying to hit a bear with a pipe wrench?

DCW

@coinsarefun said:
Gawd that is so beautiful! I wanted that one badly but went somewhat over my budget.
It’s a fantastic piece!

Thanks, Stef!
I actually thought it went somewhat reasonably, maybe 30 percent over the common copper? Such an iconic design, and I've never seen anything like this one.

This is a complete outlier, but 6 months ago a copper example sold for $1800. And while it was graded MS65, it wasn't particularly attractive.

DCW

@ms70 said:
Why is he trying to hit a bear with a pipe wrench?

Protecting the syrupy goodness, duh! 😆

291fifth

The silver specimen was probably either struck for the company owner or for a token collector of the immediate Post-Civil War era. It is the kind of token that would have great appeal to collectors both then and now.

Zoins

@DCW How prooflike are the fields in hand? It sounds like they could be very reflective given the DPL grade but it's hard to make out from the photos.

coinsarefun

I do agree @DCW. I was in a tight spot when this came to auction otherwise I might have given you a
run for your money
So know you know to please, please contact me first when/if you sell

coinsarefun

Plus I feel pretty good about my copper one now
1863 TOKEN F-630AV-1A BRONZE PE JOHN MATTHEWS NY, RB MS65RB

.
however I believe mine is brass not copper

.

Namvet69

Those darn bears. I was fly fishing the Merced in Yosemite and watched a bear break into a car for a tube of toothpaste. What a show. Peace Roy

coinsarefun

@Namvet69 said:
Those darn bears. I was fly fishing the Merced in Yosemite and watched a bear break into a car for a tube of toothpaste. What a show. Peace Roy

.
I guess he needed to brush after eating
I guess he didn’t find any floss then

DCW

@Zoins said:
@DCW How prooflike are the fields in hand? It sounds like they could be very reflective given the DPL grade but it's hard to make out from the photos.

It's pretty reflective and I imagine hard to capture in photos.

@coinsarefun Thanks for the compliments. You'll be the first person I contact if I ever sell, and I'll be the first person to contact if you ever sell that JNT Levick smoker token in silver, right? 😆

coinsarefun

@DCW said:

@Zoins said:
@DCW How prooflike are the fields in hand? It sounds like they could be very reflective given the DPL grade but it's hard to make out from the photos.

It's pretty reflective and I imagine hard to capture in photos.

@coinsarefun Thanks for the compliments. You'll be the first person I contact if I ever sell, and I'll be the first person to contact if you ever sell that JNT Levick smoker token in silver, right? 😆

.
Ah crap!, you need to give in first and sell it to me. I’ll let you keep it for a few years tho’

Zoins

@DCW said:

@Zoins said:
@DCW How prooflike are the fields in hand? It sounds like they could be very reflective given the DPL grade but it's hard to make out from the photos.

It's pretty reflective and I imagine hard to capture in photos.

Phil @PCGSPhoto are the best at prooflike in my opinion.

Here's one of mine:

fretboard

I haven't been to this forum for quite awhile, you all have a ton of great Tokens and Medals other forums don't compare to you heavy hitters! Super cool silver Matthews medal and I have an unusual one myself, not in great condition but still rare and fun for my collection!

DCW

@fretboard
Nice piece. This is actually a depiction of John Matthews' son. The father died in 1870

fretboard

@DCW said:
@fretboard
Nice piece. This is actually a depiction of John Matthews' son. The father died in 1870

Okay, yeah now the dates make sense, your silver one is stunning! Here's my other one from 1863, just thought I'd add it to this thread!

BillJones

The prices have really increased on these pieces! When I was a dealer, I had for fairly nice one for under $100, and it didn't sell for a long time. I have this one in my collection.

I wrote an article about "America's first soda king" for the "Civil War Token Journal" many years ago.

I have a couple of the other varieties that have been shown here, but they are not available to me at the moment.

skier07

@BillJones said:
The prices have really increased on these pieces! When I was a dealer, I had for fairly nice one for under $100, and it didn't sell for a long time. I have this one in my collection.

>

I wrote an article about "America's first soda king" for the "Civil War Token Journal" many years ago.

I have a couple of the other varieties that have been shown here, but they are not available to me at the moment.

Do you have a link to your article? I’d love to read it along with most of us on the boards.

BillJones

@skier07 said:

@BillJones said:
The prices have really increased on these pieces! When I was a dealer, I had for fairly nice one for under $100, and it didn't sell for a long time. I have this one in my collection.

>

I wrote an article about "America's first soda king" for the "Civil War Token Journal" many years ago.

I have a couple of the other varieties that have been shown here, but they are not available to me at the moment.

Do you have a link to your article? I’d love to read it along with most of us on the boards.

Unfortunately I can't help you. I looked at the Civil War Token Society site where some of my articles are available, and it is not among them. It wrote it so long ago that it is not on my computer either.