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Interesting $2.5 Indian and original bank box??

Do you buy this story? Linky-do It would be a neat item/coin to have if true. Anyone ever seen these so-called Bank boxes before?? image I doubt anyone on these boards can recall 1908 very well!image

Comments

  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,759 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>THE BANKS IN THOSE YEARS GAVE OUT THESE LITTLE BOXES FOR DIFFERENT GOLD COINS TO BE GIVEN AS GIFTS. >>


    Actually, this is true. I've seen gold Indian's auctioned in these original boxes before.

    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • BlindedByEgoBlindedByEgo Posts: 10,754 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Neat story, interesting box and a nice-looking obverse on a coin from a high feedback seller. I have no idea what it will close at, but it looks like a cool piece of numismatic history.
  • ShamikaShamika Posts: 18,759 ✭✭✭✭
    Now that I think about it, I believe ANR, Stack's, or Superior auctioned one of these in the last 12 months. I don't recall exactly what the outside of the box said, but I do remember the green velvet lining.

    Buyer and seller of vintage coin boards!
  • WOW That is so cool..... Just imagine how thrilled the recipient would be considering how much $2½ bought back then <sigh>

    Think I'll ask Santa for one of those too image
  • RWBRWB Posts: 8,082
    These were fairly common through the late 1930s. Banks were very attentive to customers back then (not like the greed-empowered, fee-laden crooks of today) and purchased little gift boxes from jewelry suppliers. The boxes were available for $2.50 through $20 size coins, and with cover printing saying "Merry Xmas" or "Happy New Year", etc. The most common through about 1915 were boxes with New Year's greetings. For 1934, the jewelry supply companies produced gift boxes for half dollars and silver dollars, but they were never as popular as the gold coin boxes. The boxes ranged from simple velvet lined pasteboard, to rather elaborate presentation boxes similar to ones used by the finest jewelry shops. Visitors to the Philadelphia Mint could also purchase similar gift boxes at the Mint and from jewelry stores near by. There are several comments in mint documents about collectors buying boxes for coins.

    (The bank gift boxes info is from my family’s records – several were in community banking in the late 19th early 20th centuries. The Riggs Bank collection owned by PNC Bank also includes information on early banking promotions and ways they accommodated customers. Some banks even ordered new coin from distant mints so their lady customers would always be given clean coin.)
  • ManorcourtmanManorcourtman Posts: 7,891 ✭✭✭✭


    << <i>These were fairly common through the late 1930s. Banks were very attentive to customers back then (not like the greed-empowered, fee-laden crooks of today) and purchased little gift boxes from jewelry suppliers. The boxes were available for $2.50 through $20 size coins, and with cover printing saying "Merry Xmas" or "Happy New Year", etc. The most common through about 1915 were boxes with New Year's greetings. For 1934, the jewelry supply companies produced gift boxes for half dollars and silver dollars, but they were never as popular as the gold coin boxes. The boxes ranged from simple velvet lined pasteboard, to rather elaborate presentation boxes similar to ones used by the finest jewelry shops. Visitors to the Philadelphia Mint could also purchase similar gift boxes at the Mint and from jewelry stores near by. There are several comments in mint documents about collectors buying boxes for coins.

    (The bank gift boxes info is from my family’s records – several were in community banking in the late 19th early 20th centuries. The Riggs Bank collection owned by PNC Bank also includes information on early banking promotions and ways they accommodated customers. Some banks even ordered new coin from distant mints so their lady customers would always be given clean coin.) >>



    Thanks for the cool history lesson!!! Gotta love the history behind this hobby!!
  • ArtistArtist Posts: 2,012 ✭✭✭
    I have one of those - mine looks exactly the same. They are neat to have. In those, gold coins were the preferred currancy for giving gifts - much like inserting a crisp $20 bill into a gift card with an oval cut out today.

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