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USMC_6115
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USMC_6115
Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭✭✭
USMC_6115
Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭✭✭
Comments
I took a tour of Alcatraz in the late 70's when station with the USN in the Bay area. What a neat and iconic place to see. However, the post exchange just wasn't open for business that day.
What a neat token you have
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
How long was your "tour"? In other words, how long and what were you in for?
For buying counterfeit nickels (Hening)
USN & USAF retired 1971-1993
Successful Transactions with more than 100 Members
Great piece of history here! While I have nothing to do with the sale, I did own this piece and would have never sold it had I not upgraded to a slightly better example from a well known collection.
Post Exchange tokens from Alcatraz are rare, and they are wildly popular like everything Alcatraz. In fact, a replica of this very piece is for sale in the gift shop. These would have been used in the post exchange, which is a store that sold goods only to soldiers and their families on base. Tokens like these solved the problem of the store dealing in small change (and also kept customers returning because they had no value off the base.) This obviously is not the case now, because a 50c token is worth $$$!
This token is brass and about the size of a silver dollar. Very impressive to hold in your hand and imagine the days Alcatraz Island was not a federal penitentiary, but a US Army Fort.
These come around very infrequently. Most examples are heavily corroded from being plucked from the San Francisco Bay after years in seawater. The present example is decent, and an overall very pleasing example.
An opportunity for a collector of military tokens or Alcatraz artifacts in general. I consider mine a cornerstone in my collection.
Good luck with the sale!
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"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
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