Need Help Identifying a Saloon Coin
PapaLegacy
Posts: 8 ✭
Hello, I am requesting assistance identifying this saloon coin that was made from an 1877 Mexican 50 peso piece. I tried Google but can find no record of “Britton’s Saloon and Wine Room”. Based on the date of the coin, I’m wondering if this is worth anything beyond the silver melt price. Thank you in advance.
3
Comments
Are you taking photos with a smartphone? If so, you can zoom in before taking the photo to get closer, and also crop it.
If it can be reasonably established that it is s period piece, it is certainly worth more than melt.
P.S. - I see now that "Wine Room" is upside down.
Thanks for the info. Yes, this photo was taken on my iPad. Hopefully this one is better. Also, can you provide more info on what the s period is? I’m not familiar with the term.
Sorry...meant "a period piece", or from the era it purports to be from, which in this case is presumably the late 1800s.
Yes, that photo is much better, as I can enlarge it even more on my phone.
This appears to be what is commonly called a "love token" where one side of a coin is planed down and a message or sometimes a picture is engraved and then it is given as a gift. In this case, the bar owner may have commissioned this piece to give to a valued employee who is retiring or is getting married or who knows what. The style of the engraving would indicate that it was created in the late 1800's.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
That's a cool piece. I bet it would bring over $50 on ebay due to the subject matter.
Very cool and interesting piece!
I think that's a VERY safe bet
Neat piece!
BTW, assuming that that is about the size of a half dollar, it would be a "50 Centavos" piece not a "50 Pesos."
Strange how the words of the engraving are upside down from each other. Never seen that before. I don't recognize any purpose for utilizing that unusual orientation.
Great subject matter, anything with "saloon" dated to the 1800s has following no matter the medium.
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The small green piece of ? Is missing in the bigger second photo 👀
Possibly the engraver had setup issues that only allowed them to rotate the coin for engraving and could not engrave lower on the item. Just a thought.
Jim
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Btw, there was an infamous former Texas ranger by that name, who had a saloon. Peace Roy
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Thank you everyone for the very helpful information.
Whoops, that’s a piece of lettuce.
Thank you for this. I’m doing some research based on this info.
I'd guess that it's a pass for the wine room at Britton's Saloon. There are four establishments that seem like possibilities, one in NY another in CA and the other two in the mid-west.
yes, it is an interesting coin/coin, i like
Thank you for the information. Can you provide further details on these saloons? I found this coin in a town near San Francisco, so the saloon located in CA comes to mind.
California is the most likely because it's a Mexican coin.
Probably photos in this museum archive.
https://archives.santacruzmah.org/guides/photograph-collection/
Maybe, although Mexican coins circulated throughout the US in the mid 19th. By 1877 or later, less so.
Wow! Thank you so much. I don’t know how you found that information, but this is incredible. That archive has record of Britton’s Saloon including 7 photos and possibly more information. I’m working with an archive staff member to get the details.