My Introduction - Darkside Edition

engraved

Hi all,

I introduced myself over on the US boards and ajaan suggested I also say Hi over here. I've been lurking too long and now it's time to share. I'm interested in engraved coins and love tokens. Here's a few in my collection from the darkside:

This one is my favorite. It's on a William III half crown.


This is a Victoria 4 pence, I usually don't like jewelry pieces, but the scene is just too interesting to let that detract.


Here's a more recent one from Mexico.


This one is probably on a Conder token.


Hope everyone enjoys the tokens.

Best,
Andy

TwoKopeiki

Welcome, Andy!

What a fun area to collect!

Aethelred

Very neat items, welcome to the forum!

ajaan

Welcome over here Andy. Andy will be a fine addition to your group here on the darkside. He was able to find the original owner of my Chuck II love token.







<< <i>I believe I found the person this coin was engraved for. There was an Elisabeth Morris christened on August 11, 1782 in Chorley, Lancashire, England. I found this using www.familysearch.org. This is actually the first token I've ever had luck researching, though I am still learning how to do that. >>



Thanks Andy.

1jester

Welcome to the Darkside, Andy! We're glad you're here and hope you enjoy yourself.

lordmarcovan

Welcome, and a big "wow" over your engraved pieces, particularly the William III halfcrown. That has to be worth a pretty penny! (BTW, how can you tell it's Billy Three, if the design is gone, or are there traces remaining beneath the engraving?)

That one pegs the needle of my Coolometer WAY over to the right. Ninety megafonzies, maybe!

Your assumed Conder token... lettered edge? That would be one tell.

Since I recently embarked upon a casual collection of love tokens (think I will try a date set of holed Seated Liberty dimes), and I already have a few on the famous Holey Coin Vest, this stuff is up my alley. I do like those scenics you posted. That halfcrown is phenomenal.

engraved

<< <i>Welcome, and a big "wow" over your engraved pieces, particularly the William III halfcrown. That has to be worth a pretty penny! (BTW, how can you tell it's Billy Three, if the design is gone, or are there traces remaining beneath the engraving?)

That one pegs the needle of my Coolometer WAY over to the right. Ninety megafonzies, maybe!

Your assumed Conder token... lettered edge? That would be one tell.

Since I recently embarked upon a casual collection of love tokens (think I will try a date set of holed Seated Liberty dimes), and I already have a few on the famous Holey Coin Vest, this stuff is up my alley. I do like those scenics you posted. That halfcrown is phenomenal. >>



Hi Lord Marcovan,

Thanks for the kind words. For the half crown, the outline of the back of the William III bust can be seen below the "M. Jack" engraving. Also on that side at 9 o'clock is the B for Bristol mintmark.

I may be wrong about the Conder token. It is on a very thin (worn) half cent planchet. The fact that its fairly worn might be evidence against it being a conder.

I'd love to see some of your holey dime love tokens. Here is my favorite holed dime. It's what got me started on engraved coins. Mt. Tacoma is an old name for Mt. Rainier in Washington.


Also, I posted a link to my non holed dime set on the US forum. They are pretty hard to collect without holes.
Engraved Seated Dime Set

Best,
Andy

lordmarcovan

Wow.

How difficult would you say they are WITH holes? By that, I mean, holed neatly at 12:00 or so, not looped, and with the obverse (date side) unengraved?

I have seven or eight dimes so far but none are scenics, as I recall. Just the usual names and initials. Some are fairly ornate, though.



<< <i>For the half crown, the outline of the back of the William III bust can be seen below the "M. Jack" engraving >>

I see it, now!

lordmarcovan

(I just looked at your page, and that steamboat on the 1850 dime is just TOO cool.)

I can see I've found someone to share my newfound love token enthusiasm with.

I picked a few up over the years since they're holeys (you can see my Holey Gold Hat and part of my Holey Coin Vest in my avatar picture.)

However, they recently became habit forming, and only this January did I decide to pursue a date set of the dimes with love token reverses. It's an idea I've been kicking around for a while. I only have about five pieces in the actual date set and two or three duplicates on the vest right now.

I think for starters, I will stick to the Legend Obverse subtype from 1860-91.

PS- actually, I had been wavering. You see, I already have four collections going: the holeys (actually four collections in one), the Roman Imperials (my current core pursuit), a 1901 Victorian type set for my daughter, and my 16-year accumulation of metal detector finds.

I recently sold off a 21-piece collection of holed Bust halves, since there was no room for them on my vest (there's already a near-complete set of holey large cents on the back of that). The last thing I need is another pursuit to lead me astray. But oh, well.

This will be Collection #5.

You, sir, and the coins you just posted, have just shoved me over the edge. I am now officially a date set collector of holey love token Seated dimes.

One nice thing about the collection being so small at present is that I'll easily be able to make a thread for it with thumbnails, like I did for the Romans. (Which are linked in my current sigline). I like your Omnicoins page (and MSD61's that he just posted) and will look into that, but for starters, I think I'll just use the format I did with the Romans.

With seven or eight pieces, I still just have a small "accumulation". I'm sure it'll become a "collection" soon.

I don't have scans of my dimes, yet, but here is a piece I picked up at the Charlotte show last year, which now lives with ajaan.

A US soldier's WW1 dogtag on a French 2-franc piece.

coachleonard

how DARE you violate conventional numismatic wisdom that CLEARLY states: ONLY coins that are problem-free and UN-damaged are
worthy of inclusion in anyone's collection?!!!

Daltonista

Great stuff, Andy, and welcome aboard, Mate!

Like Rob, I'm really taken with that Wm3 piece...that delicate tooling makes it look like the fancy old scrimshaw we see in New England.

Beautiful!

Tom

lordmarcovan

It really does look like scrimshaw, now that you mention it. I never made that connection. I suppose it was a similar handcraft.

My father has a couple of sperm whale teeth from circa-1840s whale ships- one has a dancing sailor on it.

lordmarcovan

OK, Andy, look what you made me do.

As your penance for shoving me off the precipice and making me slide down the very slippery slope into exonumia, you may now sell me some of your duplicates.

(I'd arm-wrestle you for that "Mt. Tacoma" piece, but I suspect you'd fight too hard to retain it, and would probably break my arm.)

engraved

Hi Rob,

I'm glad to hear that you're taking the plunge. They are very addicting so watch out. I'll see what I have to help your collection.

lordmarcovan

You get full credit for pouring gasoline on the fire. I was already leaning heavily towards these.

While my heart's in the Dark Side most of the time, the dimes will give me at least one Liteside project to play with.

I might as well repost what I've got so far (not as many as I remembered):

AuldFartte

Andy !!!

Those are some awesome love tokens
I had some around here, but can't remember where the heck I put 'em ...