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OK, I'll ask...what the heck is this??? Quite the fake $20 gold piece???
Piano1
Posts: 233 ✭✭✭
Hello, everyone.
Scrounging around in the bottom of a box of some old coins and stuff, I found this rather odd item. I guess it is supposed to simulate a $20 gold piece (it's dated 1868) but it doesn't quite pass muster!!! Is that a "bite mark" I see to the left of Miss Liberty's chin??? On the back, I don't know how well the photo shows it but it is a tin-encased disk with a pretty scruffy-looking eagle featuring a shield on its chest and some inscription around the perimeter of the "coin" which I can't quite decipher. The ribbon is particularly interesting as it has the inscription "BEWARE OF IMITATIONS". Well, obviously, this is a fake...but would anyone know the reason for its issuance and by whom?
Thanks.
Piano1
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Looks like a spielmark.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Spielmark? As in gambling token or play money? Interesting! Thanks, TomB.
Or a magicians coin device
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Shell card advertising token. Or, more accurately, half of one.
Unwrap it and tell how good the chocolate is.
Mark
Separate the parts and tell us what is hidden... Cheers, RickO
Thanks for the responses, guys. I guess it will go back into the box of worthless junk that I seemed to have accumulated in my 72 years on the planet. So much for my all-expense-paid world cruise! 😂
Piano1
Poor man's double eagle.
sellitstore has it correct - it is a stock reverse die used on shell cards of the post-Civil War period. The Liberty Head $20 is one of the two most commonly seen reverse dies with 1867, 1868 & 1870 dates known. Seated Liberty $1 dies are the other ones used extensively. There is actually a 1776 dated flowing hair $1 die as well plus a number of other types used as reverses.
Hello, and once again, thank you all who helped solve this little mystery for me. Tokenpro and sellitstore, special thanks to you. Your knowledge and kindness are very much appreciated!! Ricko, unfortunately, there was no chocolate inside the piece, but if you live near me, my neighbors, knowing I am a chocolate addict, just gave me a large cigar box full of Lindt Truffles. I'd gladly share (1 or 2). 🤣
Once again, thank you ALL! I don't know how to mark this question "answered", but you did a masterful job!
Piano1