Someone please educate me.....

theump

Was watching the heritage auction of "so called dollars." Ok, I will bite, why are these coins, what look like medals to me, known as "so called dollars?"

lordmarcovan

*ping*

Paging keets... you were talking about SC$ on another thread just a minute ago... now's your chance to shine...

(I would post something myself, but then my ignorance might show. I have a vague notion of what they are, but only a vague one!)

291fifth

They picked up the name so-called dollars long ago, probably as the result of marketing hype. The name really became entrenched in 1963 when Hibbler & Kappen published their book on So-Called Dollars. They are medals.

Barndog

and they are generally "dollar sized" (forget about SBAs and SACs and Presidential dollars...)

ricko

I like real dollars.... the spendable ones... Cheers, RickO

keets

OK, Rob, i'm commencing to shine!!!!

evidentally, Thomas Elder used the term in an auction description back in 1912 and it stuck. an example of the item he referred to back then sold yesterday out in Long Beach. a So-Called Dollar is "a medal of near dollar size, at first of a commemorative or exposition nature, later of a monetary kind."

rwyarmch

A belated thank you to Keets for having posted all the reasons not to own So-Called Dollars!
They were under the radar for me to that point.

NeoStar

rwyarmch,

What's that on that picture you have??? That is very nice!!!

DUIGUY

<< <i>A belated thank you to Keets for having posted all the reasons not to own So-Called Dollars!
They were under the radar for me to that point.

>>



VERY nice Crystall Pallace !!

NeoStar

rwyarmch

A while ago someone posted a beautiful 1854 Crystal Palace (HK-8) in white metal or maybe silver. I had
to settle for the bronze but I'm ok with it.

NeoStar

That is beautiful!

cladking

A lot of these have simply spectacular designs that will put nearly any coin to shame.

Most are double or triple struck and art medals involve a complicated series of different
dies in order to bring up the detail and relief. You can sometimes even find specimens
which didn't go through the entire process. They are often made in tiny quantities and
sold to a very closed group of people such as 1933 world's fair goers.

Of course these things didn't truly circulate even when they had a face value. Similar
items not included in Hibbler-Kappen abound. Frequently they are excluded because of
size or usage or because they were made after their 1963 book on so called dollars.

Tokens and medals get very little respect for many reasons but much of the cause is that
there are just so many different ones out there. One almost has to specialize and this
may or may not include the so called dollars and similar items. Frequently collectors will
specialize in areas which include only some of these.

There are also relatively few collectors of medal and tokens. Collectors often won't pay
substantial premiums for them because of the availability of rare items for very low cost.

Most tokens and medals are very underappreciated. Even very common things like video
arcade tokens include thousands of rarities yet they all wholesale about 5c each and few
collectors will pay a substantial premium. Part of the problem with this specific area and
some similar items is the difficulty in knowing what's common and what's rare. Many of
these are still in the hands of the issuer or a collector who purchased the whole issue.
Like older tokens though these have a tendency to often be destroyed in their entirety
leaving only a handfull of strays in the hands of the general public. These will then have
an extremely high attrition as they come to learn the token is "worthles".

The SCD's are getting a lot of attention and this will increase when the new book comes
out. Perhaps it will spur other exonumia on as well. It will certainly at least help the post-
1963 SCD's.

coindeuce

<< <i>A while ago someone posted a beautiful 1854 Crystal Palace (HK-8) in white metal or maybe silver. I had
to settle for the bronze but I'm ok with it. >>



The white metal example posted here was mine...I've never seen a bronze example before. Didn't even know it existed.

MrSpud

Keets is no-doubt right, but here is some more info on the origin of the term So-Called Dollar that I had posted a while back when someone else asked the same question

In the Hibler-Kaplan books introduction it says that the first reference book on So-Called Dollars was written in 1953 by Kenney. By coincedence I also requested and received a copy of the 1953 Kenney book from the ANA Library. Here is what it says about the origins of the term So-Called Dollar and what one is:

Here is what the cover looks like:

coindeuce

Another example of the Crystal Palace So Called Dollar. HK-8, white metal.

Aegis3

<< <i>The SCD's are getting a lot of attention and this will increase when the new book comes
out. Perhaps it will spur other exonumia on as well. It will certainly at least help the post-
1963 SCD's. >>



QDB's _100 Greatest Tokens and Medals_ (approximate title) is also being released this year also and I would expect that to introduce exonumia and its breadth to a wider range of numismatics.

Bochiman

Unlike SAEs, these aren't real coins
All SCD threads should be posted in the Open Forum. If not there, then at least the sportscard forum since those aren't coins either

cladking

<< <i>Unlike SAEs, these aren't real coins
All SCD threads should be posted in the Open Forum. If not there, then at least the sportscard forum since those aren't coins either >>




The real problem is the thread title. Real coin collectors shouldn't have to be distracted by this nonsense.