Buy and Use Silver to Restore Prosperity - So-Called Dollars and Store Cards

Zoins

I'm a big fan of mining scenes on So-Called Dollars so I was excited to run across a store card using the theme of the 1933 Colorado HK-870 So-Called Dollar.

Below are photos of HK-870 and the Rocky Mountain Coin store card to compare.

1933 World's Fair, A Century of Progress So-Called Dollar - HK-870
struck by: H.H. (Harry Heye) Tammen & Co., Denver
planchets by: Sachs-Lawlor Co., Denver

Here's a well-toned HK-870 from CoinFacts. These are relatively common without color so I've been holding out for one with nice color.

Rocky Mountain Coin Store Card
issued by: Rocky Mountain Coin, Klaus J. Degler

Here are photos of a Rocky Mountain Coin medal from Klaus J. Degler, with photos by Beatrice Gold and Silver LLC in Beatrice, Nebraska.

Some questions:

• Does anyone know who struck these?
• What is the image under the scale?

Here's some info on Rocky Mountain Coin:

• Site: https://rmcoin.com/

Our founder, Klaus J. Degler, has served as president of the Colorado Professional Numismatic Association and as chairman for several major coin shows.

As president and manager of RMC, Klaus J. Degler has over 40 years of professional experience as the owner and manager of Rocky Mountain Coin. Klaus has done consultations and appraisals for numerous banks, legal firms, state and federal agencies, and private individuals, including:

• City of Denver
• Internal Revenue Service
• Colorado Bureau of Investigation
• General Services Administration
• Colorado Museum of Natural History

Klaus has qualified and testified as an expert witness in numismatics in both civil and criminal court cases. He has served as a consultant to both the American Numismatic Association and the Independent Grading Service on the value of rare coins and currency, and serves as the designated coin appraiser to the City of Denver.

Professional Memberships

Klaus Degler has been member #463 of the prestigious Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG) for over 30 years. PNG was established in 1955, and maintains strict requirements for membership—to date, fewer than 1000 members are honored to display the PNG logo as testament to their professionalism and expertise.

Zoins

A question on the 1933 Century of Progress World Expo is what is significant about 1833? I haven't been able to find any information on 1833 from a few sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_of_Progress
• https://www.so-calleddollars.com/Events/Century_of_Progress.html
• https://www.so-calleddollars.com/Events/Colorado_Dollars.html

Jzyskowski1

1833 is when Chicago was founded as a city by about 350 good souls 😉

Zoins

@Jzyskowski1 said:
1833 is when Chicago was founded as a city by about 350 good souls 😉

Good info! But with a slight adjustment:

1833 was when Chicago was founded as a town!
1837 was when Chicago was founded as a city which is where my 1887 Chicago semi-centennial medal comes in to play.

https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/chicago

HIstory Channel said:
The 1832 Black Hawk War ended the last Native American resistance in the area. Chicago was incorporated as a town in 1833 and as a city in 1837, when its population reached 4,000.

Jzyskowski1

City. Town. It’s all good. Here’s my source 😉

Zoins

@Jzyskowski1 said:
City. Town. It’s all good. Here’s my source 😉

Looks like some Wikipedia consistency is needed!

Here's your page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1833_in_the_United_States

But Wikipedia also says the following:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Chicago_history

Jzyskowski1

Zoins, my friend, we have discovered an error 😉

ricko

Looks like semantic slippage in the records - casual use of city vs. town... Wikipedia should be used with caution when researching.... Cheers, RickO

coinsarefun

Very cool piece @zoins I like it.

Goldminers

Here is a very rare pair. The bronze uniface medal 870 die trial is especially fun and ironic on a medal stating to "Use silver to restore prosperity".

Zoins

@Goldminers said:
Here is a very rare pair. The bronze uniface medal 870 die trial is especially fun and ironic on a medal stating to "Use silver to restore prosperity".

Awesome piece @Goldminers! I love it! Thanks for posting it!

Do you have any history you can share? Where did you find it?

Goldminers

These were original holders. This is the 3-medal version There is a one medal version similar in heavy board like these.

Goldminers

@Zoins said:

@Goldminers said:
Here is a very rare pair. The bronze uniface medal 870 die trial is especially fun and ironic on a medal stating to "Use silver to restore prosperity".

Awesome piece @Goldminers! I love it! Thanks for posting it!

Do you have any history you can share? Where did you find it?

I was allowed to purchase this from a major SCD collector, who got it from another major long time Colorado medal collector, who bought it earlier from another more famous top collector who likely received or purchased it from someone directly involved in the design and minting This is the provenance, but it lacks enough documentation for the earliest portions for me to speculate and state all names here.

Maybe someone knows where, when, and by whom these were struck, and possibly some names might show up in some historical news articles I can search for near there to see if more can be discovered. Has anyone seen another of this HK-870 struck in bronze or silver uniface?

There is a chance it is a unique die variant, but that is another reason for the post to see if others have ever seen one, or better yet, have they seen the other side?

I can speculate it was lightly handled in a leather pouch or something (AU50) to show prospective Colorado investor folks at the time what the design will look like when done in silver for them to support the cost of minting for the Fair?

No way to know, but that is part of the reason I like it.

dcarr

@Goldminers said:

@Zoins said:

@Goldminers said:
Here is a very rare pair. The bronze uniface medal 870 die trial is especially fun and ironic on a medal stating to "Use silver to restore prosperity".

Awesome piece @Goldminers! I love it! Thanks for posting it!

Do you have any history you can share? Where did you find it?

I was allowed to purchase this from a major SCD collector, who got it from another major long time Colorado medal collector, who bought it earlier from another more famous top collector who likely received or purchased it from someone directly involved in the design and minting This is the provenance, but it lacks enough documentation for the earliest portions for me to speculate and state all names here.

Maybe someone knows where, when, and by whom these were struck, and possibly some names might show up in some historical news articles I can search for near there to see if more can be discovered. Has anyone seen another of this HK-870 struck in bronze or silver uniface?

There is a chance it is a unique die variant, but that is another reason for the post to see if others have ever seen one, or better yet, have they seen the other side?

I can speculate it was lightly handled in a leather pouch or something (AU50) to show prospective Colorado investor folks at the time what the design will look like when done in silver for them to support the cost of minting for the Fair?

No way to know, but that is part of the reason I like it.

I think I have heard of one other bronze example of the uniface HK-870.
I was able to inspect (in person) the one shown above.
They are definitely rare. My opinion is that it is actually a vintage casting for the purpose of ornamentation (affixing to some larger object). But more research would be needed to be sure.

I had a chance to buy it, and/or a uniface aluminum die trial of NK-867 & HK-868. Since my funds were limited, I chose to buy the latter because I was able to verify that it was struck by the same die that struck HK-867 & HK-868.

CaptHenway

There were Non-Native Americans in Chicago before 1833. They just organized as a town in that year.

Goldminers

@Zoins,
You mentioned toning. These 2 just came back from grading from out of that holder above. The grading of these seems a bit variable, possibly due to so many die polish lines.

Mr_Spud

I might as well post mine again too, I bought it raw and submitted it about 9 years ago. I didn’t get a Trueview so just have this iPhone picture 🌞

Goldminers

Here is the ex-ANACS copper HK-870 die trial again. Now with a True View photo after PCGS confirmed it.

Zoins

@Goldminers said:
@Zoins,
You mentioned toning. These 2 just came back from grading from out of that holder above. The grading of these seems a bit variable, possibly due to so many die polish lines.

Nice to see these toned specimens! Thanks for posting these

Agree there are a lot of die polish lines on these.

Here's another toned one of mine:

Zoins

@Goldminers said:

@Zoins said:

@Goldminers said:
Here is a very rare pair. The bronze uniface medal 870 die trial is especially fun and ironic on a medal stating to "Use silver to restore prosperity".

Awesome piece @Goldminers! I love it! Thanks for posting it!

Do you have any history you can share? Where did you find it?

I was allowed to purchase this from a major SCD collector, who got it from another major long time Colorado medal collector, who bought it earlier from another more famous top collector who likely received or purchased it from someone directly involved in the design and minting This is the provenance, but it lacks enough documentation for the earliest portions for me to speculate and state all names here.

Maybe someone knows where, when, and by whom these were struck, and possibly some names might show up in some historical news articles I can search for near there to see if more can be discovered. Has anyone seen another of this HK-870 struck in bronze or silver uniface?

There is a chance it is a unique die variant, but that is another reason for the post to see if others have ever seen one, or better yet, have they seen the other side?

I can speculate it was lightly handled in a leather pouch or something (AU50) to show prospective Colorado investor folks at the time what the design will look like when done in silver for them to support the cost of minting for the Fair?

No way to know, but that is part of the reason I like it.

Good to know there's a provenance trail. Are any of the names well-known names that could be shared? It could be interesting to have a starting point for research purposes.

Goldminers

Linked to collectors in Colorado who subsequently purchased it from a collection believed to have been owned by Al C. Overton.

dcarr

My "I929" counter-stamped Pedley-Ryan is also linked to Al Overton: