March 23, 1836, First Steam Coinage...Help needed to identify token

tsacch

personally it looks like a cast copy to me. Is this a copy of some real item that was made by the mint? Or is it some worthless crackerjack wanna be, waste of $8.00 that i bought five years ago but never got around to research much?

Whadda you think...........sell it on the bay?

kranky

Check here and scroll all the way down to the last Q&A.

tsacch

so you think someone made a cast copy of a worthless restrike?

BillJones

The item you have is modern mint strike of a medalet that was first issued in 1836 when the first steam presses were introduced at the Philadelphia Mint. I've got to do some research on this one, but the first steam coinage was delayed and the piece ended up being an over date item. I have an example of a 19th century striking of this item. The finish is a rich brown and much more attractive than this piece. I think that the mint strikes these pieces for about $20 to $25, and they are worth about $8.

tsacch

i am retaking pics with my camera with an adjusted light setting. i am using just one lamp and it was on auto. the item has a bronze look to me, not at all copper. has a wierd ring to it when dropped. thats why i believe it to be a cast copy, besides the lumpy surface. i will try a zoomed close up.

tom

BillJones

The modern restrikes have lumpy surfaces. The dies for a lot of modern U.S. medals are not in the best of shape, and the sand blasting that they use to get the "yellow bronze" surface is often done inconsistantly and poorly.

Oh for the good old days in the 19th century when the medals were made by people who wanted them to be attrative and desirable.

tsacch

sorry for the blurri photos, i didnt use a tripod and only one bulb

Conder101

The overdate he was referring to is on the month and day not the year. The initial steam coinage was supposed to be on Feb 22 but because of technical problems it was delayed for a month til Mar 23rd. The die was altered to reflect this. The mint used the dies at the initial coining, and later the mint produced restrikes from the original die (I believe) and later with a new die that doesn't show the overdating. I don't know if the mint made further restrikes at an even later date, but a few years ago restrikes on a refurbished steam press were produced at the ANA convention by the GMM people.

Gemini

I bought a copy a few years ago and as far as I know these repos are still being sold by the Mint.

BillJones

... And the Mint was selling repros BEFORE the repros were sold at the ANA convention, because I bought one from the mint WELL BEFORE the ANA repros.

My impression is that the mint makes a bunch of these modern medals and then sells them as the order come in, which can cover a period of well over 10 or 20 years between production and sale.

Here's a picture of my 19th century piece, which was stuck probably in the 1850s. The "Feb" is barely visible under the March. It's just a few stray lines that are showing around the letters. It's hard to see normally, and it's really hard to see here because I had to reduce the size of the photo to put it up here.