The 1864 Storecards of John Adams Bolen
DCW
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I recently purchased these two very beautiful storecards of John Adams Bolen.
Only around twenty or so were struck in copper, and apparently just one is known in brass. Begs the question, why would anyone advertise their business by striking such limited quantity, especially after making such a lovely piece? Perhaps the answer lies in vanity. As the story goes, Bolen did not like the way his portrait came out and later took great pains to retrieve all copies he could. Rather than completely destroying them, he very oddly scraped the face off of his image, further limiting the supply available. I have seen a few of these damaged tokens, and they still hold collector value with Bolen diehards.
Courtesy of Heritage:
Interestingly, the steel die that Bolen loathed was not destroyed, but muled with a different one. The muling with the liberty cap die with Bolen's portrait has a reported mintage of 25 in copper, 25 in Oreide (copper alloy) and one is known in silver. I have found more of them in online auction archives than the original pairing, so they probably survive in great numbers. They are most likely struck after 1864.
These are now considered civil war tokens and included in the United States Sotecard book (3rd and 4th editions) by Fuld. They are collected with other tokens from Massachusetts as well as in collections that include die sinker storecards. Despite the rarity, they are relatively affordable in comparison to other civil war tokens. (And an absolute bargain if you are comparing rarity to US coins!)
Thanks for looking
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Comments
love the top 2. good stuff, i like
Curiously, why are such items called “storecards” rather than “advertising tokens” or something similar?
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Great pieces!
I own the silver example of the Liberty Cap mule.
I wish I had a definitive answer, Mark. Im guessing since these pre-date the general use of paper "business cards" they were given that term for advertising their "stores." Like a calling card in medallic form. Maybe @BillJones add some additional insight.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
@pruebas
That is outstanding! You know where to go if you ever want to sell that baby!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Thank you.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
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Can I add mine here too. One of my favorites.
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
Thread fell off pretty quickly.
Any interest? Post your Bolen storecards here if you've got 'em.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Curious that the man did not like what he saw in his likeness. Great pieces all. Peace Roy
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Fantastic tokens and very interesting read.
Buying your own advertising tokens back just to scrape your own face off is just ninja level self loathing, btw.
Even more curious is that the die itself was not initially destroyed. It was later muled with his liberty cap die, as seen here.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."