So-Called Dollar Fellowship Gathering Report and New SCD Discovery!
Zoins
Posts: 34,287 ✭✭✭✭✭
I attended the So-Called Dollar Fellowship Gathering for the first time this year and gave a presentation on So-Called Dollar Store Card Mules.
It's run by Jeff Shevlin who did a great job getting people together to share talks on So-Called Dollars. Here's a list of sessions. The last one is mine.
- SCD’s from U.S. International Expositions 1878–1892
- The Loyal National League SCD’s HK 874–875A
- North Carolina — Fairs, Expositions and Centennials
- California Agricultural Medals
- 1904 St. Louis Exposition Official Medals — Metallic Compositions
- Early Entertainers on Unlisted SCD’s
- SCD Die Sinker Store Cards
Here's a trip report with lots of info but add add some amazing things here. I'm publishing some of these longer articles under the name "Private Mint News" now for more permanence. It's on Medium now but eventually there will be PDFs as well.
The first amazing thing I saw at the Silver Legacy casino venue in Reno, even before I stepped in the room, as the 120 foot mining rig in the middle of the casino.
My talk covered the following medals. A great thing about the presentation is all the discussion that it created. Since I had an Internet connection, I could easily move between my presentation, PCGS CoinFacts and Stack's Bowers. People were very appreciative of everything PCGS has done for So-Calleds.
- 1876 Centennial Exhibition
- HK-23–26: Stiners Tea Company
- HK-75–79: Henry Griswold Sampson
- 1892 Columbian Exposition
- HK-216–218: Ritchie & Dyer Co.
- HK-219: Illinois Pure Aluminum Company
- 1908 Pittsburgh Sesquicentennial
- James C. Lindsay
- 1917 WWI Era
- HK-857–860, HK-866: Numismatic Knights
A number of these have been posted here on the forums before such as the following 1876 Centennial medal in silver sharing a die by Abraham Demarest replicating the Declaration of Independence by Charles Cushing Wright.
Many great things came out of the talk about of note
1908 Pittsburgh Semi-Centennial So-Called Dollars exist
One of the pieces I shared was this one and I indicated that I had not seen any pure event medals, as this one is a store card.
@Pioneer1 was in the audience and indicates that he has a number of pure event medals using the Sesquicentennial die so it appears we have some So-Called Dollars to catalog!
Regarding adding events, H&K was also discussed. Back when H&K was published in 1962, the primary way Hibler and Kappen learned about and cataloged events was that they sent out letters for people to inform them of medals. Some events just weren't sent to them and were thus unknown at the time.
Another great discovery was HK-29b in leather which was discussed after I presented Stiners Tea 1876 Centennial token in leather, cataloged as Rulau NY-NY 304.
1883 G.A.R 17th Annual Encampment in Denver Medal
diameter: 38mm; composition: white metal
grade: PCGS MS62 POP 0/1/0
pedigree: Bob Jesinger
There were lots of So-Called Dollars and medals for sale as well. This one my one pick up of the show. A great thing about picking up this piece was that it was being held for someone and when I inquired about it, it was being held for another person in the room who said he didn't need it. It's amazing to have such a great community all in one place.
Comments
Superb SCD examples and a great report. Thanks for posting. I will have to go to that Silver Legacy Casino to see that headframe and other items that are old mining related. Maybe this summer.
My US Mint Commemorative Medal Set
Nice presentation! I’ve been to that casino and it really is a neat thing to see.
But we haven’t been there in several years, I need to try and get out to a meeting just once.
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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
@Zoins
That was an amazing, interesting and detailed report! Congratulations on Private Mint News!!
Thanks for your report. Sound like a great collecting community, sharing information and helping each other.
@Zoins
The mining rig at the Silver Legacy Casino in Reno looks out of this world!
Thanks Mike! I got good feedback from Jeff, Dan and others so it's nice that it's appreciated.
There's a lot more to do on Private Mint News it's a start. There's so much I want to write about in a more formal way. Medium seems like a good approach for now, especially for copy editing. I like editing in a webpage, like the forums!
Overall, it really is an underserved area with lots of great information that needs to be collected before it's lost!
It is! It's insane to look at. I probably spent a good 15 minutes walking around it to take photos from all the angles. That the dome reflects the natural sky is amazing. I have to go back to check out the coins it mints and see if the elevator goes to the top!
Definitely. It was great group of people and we had some great conversations. Now I need to wait a whole year before heading back!
People were very impressed by PCGS including TrueViews, CoinFacts and the forums. We have a few strong supporters of So-Called Dollars here and I hope we can get more by spreading the news!
As usual Dan @dcarr did a great job on the medals.
The following are some digital sculpts that he provided to Jeff, who in turn provided to club members.
It's based on HK-500, the 1949 California Gold Rush Centennial, which was issued by the California Medalists Society and Jack Hechti in San Francisco.
Thanks for an interesting report. I am barely familiar with this segment of collecting, but becoming more interested. Cheers, RickO
You're welcome Rick!
I personally enjoy So-Called Dollars because they are a great way to dive into American History as they tend to commemorate important historical events that I find fascinating to learn about.
@Zoins
It sounds like you had a wonderful experience at the So-Called Dollar Fellowship Gathering. Thanks for sharing it with us!