A special thanks to xphobe for a VERY rare WCE elongate

tmot99

I recently received a PM from xphobe telling me about his Great Grandfather. Apparently he ran one of the elongating machines at the 1893 Columbian Expo. So xphobe tells me that he has a few of the elongates from his Great Grandfather. He asks, do you know what "Cairo Street 1893" is? Of course I do. This die, referred to as die #6, is the King of all dies for the fair. It has almost mythical nature as most collectors have heard of the die (it is listed in the Dow/Martin reference book), but no one seems to have ever seen one. I have talked to a number of major collectors and dealers of this type of material and have only heard about one being in anyone's hands. Xphobe and I came to a reasonable agreement and this pretty elongate on an 1892 IHC resides in my collection. Thanks, xphobe!

TomB

That is a spectacular story and congratulations.

DUIGUY

Love knowing the history of a piece !!

TheRegulator

Congrats on the acquisition.


I would be sure to document everything about the piece and the deal. If it hasn't already been done, see if xphobe would be willing to handwrite a little note telling about the piece and its past as well as any details about the transaction. Have it signed and dated. The history of a piece like that should never be lost.

tmot99

This is also a tribute to the forum. To me, this is why I participate on these boards. Talking to other collectors, learning from other collectors, etc. It would be so much nicer to have more communications like this rather than the "Moderns Suck" threads or "I got screwed on ebay" threads.

Leiana

<< <i>This is also a tribute to the forum. To me, this is why I participate on these boards. Talking to other collectors, learning from other collectors, etc. It would be so much nicer to have more communications like this rather than the "Moderns Suck" threads or "I got screwed on ebay" threads. >>



I agree wholeheartedly. That's a very cool elongated. I have never seen one with just letters before. And knowing the provenance makes it even better and I'm sure it will always hold special meaning for you. I collect modern elongateds from places I travel or relatives travel. I do have one oldie from the 1904 St. Louis Fair.

-Amanda

tmot99

I was hoping there would be a little more "history" with the coin. So much information about the elongateds was lost. There has been recent information showing up that it costed 5 cents to get a coin elongated. However, no one knows where the machines were located. This die, would likely have been on Cairo Street (Ya' think?). The machine that produced Die # 5, shown here:

was likely found in the Canada building. I make this assumption in that the majority of coins with this design (I would venture to guess over 75%) are Canadian coins. There are very few US coins with this design.

Xphobe didn't have any info from his GGF unfortunately. I just think it's cool that he has that little bit of history there. If I could go back in time, it would be to visit this fair. If you look at pictures from the fair, we don't even have anything in our modern world that can even compare.

xphobe

Here is a link to a page I put together for tmot99, showing the other elongateds.

I am so happy that my grandfather's Cairo Street has found a deserving home after all these years!

tmot99

This is very cool history! Thanks again!

Garneteye

Always enjoy hearing about the progress of tmot99's collection and a well done to xphobe for giving up a part of his family history to enhance a fellow collector primary collection. It's always a pleasure to pass on something that you know will be truely treasured

Regulated

Yowza! You must be thrilled, Tom.

Artist

Great thread -

I am happy for you, happy for the boards,

but mostly I am happy to learn that people thought it was fun to smash pennies over hundred years ago like they still do today.

kiyote

eBay the hell outta that thing!

tmot99

<< <i>eBay the hell outta that thing! >>



NEVER!

CaptHenway

<< <i>eBay the hell outta that thing! >>



Slab it first. See if you can get in into a "First Strike" holder.......
LOL
TD

Hoot

That's a fabulous piece! I love elongated coins, especially those of antiquity. Here's my only piece from the Columbian Expo:



Hoot

tmot99

A very nice die #2. I don't actualy collect by dies, but did want to get one of each major die group (there are 6 known with a possible 7th).

Die 1: No stars
Die 2: 2 stars like on hoots
Die 3: 3 stars with angled writing
Die 4: 4 stars with angled writing
Die 5: Interwinded C and E with 18 on one side and 93 on the other
Die 6: Cairo Street
Die 7: Likely not a real die group. It appears that this is either broken die 2 or grease-filled.

Die #6 is a bit in question as well. The one listed in the reference book actually shows a die #1 on one side with die 6 on the reverse. This would be the only double-sided die from the fair. However, I know of 3 different examples of die 6 and they are all like the one I showed in the original post. Is this a die 6a? Or did someone take their die 1 elongate and "re-elongate" it in die 6?

cladking

There are lots of great tokens and medals from this fair.

Very cool.