"Hammered" Multi-Struck Error - 1876 US Centennial Token!

Zoins

I love the 1876 Centennial Philadelphia Internal Exhibition and pieces from that expo. I also used to spend a lot of time on Chestnut Street, living on a cross street less than a block away.

So I was happy to recently pick up this super multi-struck piece from the Centennial Advertising Medal Company.

I also collect Civil War Tokens so a very interesting thing about this piece is that the Washington die was used to strike tokens during the Civil War. It was engraved by Louis Roloff for F.C. Key & Sons. Roloff worked in New York City for Charles D. Horter Co.

Here's a description from Steve:

@SteveHayden said:
Post Civil War 1876 token Miller / Rulau Pa Ph 16E Nice Uncirculated. Wild mint error. Broadstruck, just spectacular. Centennial Advertising Medal Co. 1029 Chestnut St. Philada with George Washington on reverse (300-400)

Meltdown

That's incredible.

Zoins

1029 Chestnut Street was the home of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Here's an great photo of 1029 Chestnut Street, with indications that by 1869 the building was housing businesses.

https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/2657

Background:

OPEP, p. 137 wrote:
When the Academy was first built in 1806, it was surrounded by a garden and the site had a frontage of one hundred feet on Chestnut Street. By 1869, however, most of this property had been sold and business establishments had almost hidden the Academy from view. The photograph was made just before the building was sold to Robert Fox, who opened Fox's New American Theatre (later the Chestnut Street Opera House) on this site in 1870.

Here's some info that seems related to the photo:

The Academy set back in a court-yard. Entrance with gate and sign above: "Academy of the Fine Arts," with walkway between two retail stores. Group of men with top hats posing on the steps of the Academy. Two street lamps on sidewalk; two horses pulling a carriage. Both stores have doors open with people looking out; store on left has man looking out window on top floor. Store on left: "Ladies hair dresser..." on one window and on other: "Selling out below cost..." To the left of this: "[?]rden"; below and attached to the awning: "...Jewelry"; and free-standing letters at top of building: "[?]arden." Store to the right of Academy entrance: "Children's..." and "Boots & shoes." Printed on building above the sidewalk: "1023, J. Parsons & Co. men's boy's boots shoes [?]." on both sides of the door. To the right of this store are numerous signs: "Hitchcock's half dime music," "Woods [?]," "Turner Hamilton book binding, stationery, and periodicals, 106 So. 10th St.," and "Hitchcock's Dime Music." The next store: "Wines [...]."

Byers

@Zoins

That is spectacular, dramatic and wild!

CaptHenway

YIKES!!!!

ctf_error_coins

Amazing. You got you some eye appeal there

TPRC

Just an awesome piece!

Herb_T

Looks like a bottle cap……awesome coin!

johnny9434

I'm glad you snapped that up for yourself, wtg

MedalCollector

Thought that was a super cool piece! Will you be picking up earlier stages of the token, with the broken collar error?

StrikeOutXXX

That is quite impressive. Is it a rare token? I tried a little Googling, could only find an old eBay auction picture and what's posted at TokenCatalog:

and at:
https://tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=509880&inventory_id=566488&attribution_id=526092

I'm starting to think finding one without a collar issue is rarer than with.

Zoins

@GoldenEgg said:
Thought that was a super cool piece! Will you be picking up earlier stages of the token, with the broken collar error?

I would like to. I collect Centennial pieces in general so it's nice to add to the collection. I did recently pick up a white metal specimen from @SteveHayden.

@StrikeOutXXX said:
That is quite impressive. Is it a rare token?
[...]
I'm starting to think finding one without a collar issue is rarer than with.

I'm not too sure about rarity but the common one with the die collar issue is probably scarce with the others more rare.

Of note, the thought is that the issue with the broken collar isn't an error but was made on purpose to resemble a watch case opener. This was described in @SteveHayden's December 10, 2017 Catalog, Number 45. Given how many of these exist, my guess is that the watch opener theory is more plausible than an error.

@SteveHayden said:
814 - MILLER PA 85B Raw MS64 Struck on an odd shaped planchet. Centennial Advertising Medal Company 1029 Chestnut St., Philadelphia with George Washington reverse struck in Brass with Plain edge. Rulau describes this token as a mint error being struck from a broken collar. However, this configuration which resembles a watch case opener is also used on J. Henry Gercke of Philadelphia who, perhaps not coincidently, was a Watchmaker and Jeweler. Very interesting regardless. We sold a Raw AU+ example for $71 in our July 2014 auction. Baker 524A, Fuld NC-10b and Rulau Pa Ph 16E From the Dave Bowers collection from Rich Rossa July 1997. (150-200)

https://www.civilwartokens.com/auction45x.pdf

DCW

Amazing piece, John!

coinsarefun

I saw that one and was bidding on it, then I realized you probably are going to go for it.
I'm glad it was you. Must be something in hand. Congratulations!

Zoins

Thanks for the nice comments everyone! It is an amazing token in hand!

As usual, it's great to find to do research on these and related pieces!

Here's a token for J. Henry Gercke showing the same collar issue.

Of note, I located 2 PCGS certified specimens that that show the beginning of this issue but doesn't have the pronounced protrusions. An interesting thing is that they are cataloged under different catalog numbers with different coin numbers, both pop 0/1/0, so it's really a pop 2 token.

This one is cataloged as "F-NC-D-1b Brass PE J. Henry Gercke PA" with Coin Number: 666069

https://www.pcgs.com/cert/34019703

This one is cataloged as "GW-658 Brass J. Henry Gercke" with Coin Number: 785180

https://www.pcgs.com/cert/37572185

Finally, it seems like "J. Henry Gercke" could be "John Henry Gerke" of Philadelphia (Aug 1837 - Jul 31, 1914).

https://peoplelegacy.com/john_henry_gercke-5b54731

Zoins

Here's another photo of the building in 1869, right before it was sold, with the same OPEP caption, which is interesting. I wonder why the photos look so different. Perhaps these are photos of a photo taken under different conditions?

https://cronobook.com/pic/e983cec8-4737-4006-ad98-2629ae77a0d6

"When the Academy was first built in 1806, it was surrounded by a garden and the site had a frontage of one hundred feet on Chestnut Street. By 1869, however, most of this property had been sold and business establishments had almost hidden the Academy from view. The photograph was made just before the building was sold to Robert Fox, who opened Fox's New American Theatre (later the Chestnut Street Opera House) on this site in 1870."-OPEP, p. 137.

Zoins

Here's the White Metal piece I recently picked up:

@SteveHayden said:
Post Civil War 1876 token Miller / Rulau Pa Ph 18 Uncirculated, proof like. Centennial Advertising Medal Co. 1029 Chestnut St. Philada with George Washington on reverse (125-150).

ricko

That is an amazing error token.... and in such pristine condition. Interesting how it has stayed so clean after all this time. Must have been put away and well cared for.... Cheers, RickO