~ "Gutta-Percha 4 The Weekend" ~

Broadstruck

OK this should be a short thread

Wondering if anyone can post a pics of a token or medal struck on a Gutta-Percha planchect

Also would like to know if it darkens with age like copper or if you see a dark brown example instead of reddish brown was that it's original color

Thanks in advance!

MidLifeCrisis

Well, that stumped me. Never heard of it.

Shamika

Shamika

Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio Token. When Thomas W. Peirce finally got his Galveston, Harrisburg, & San Antonio Railway building westward from Columbus, TX toward San Antonio in April of 1873, one of the more unusual problems faced by the management was a shortage of "small change". The Coinage Act of 1873, enacted February 12th of that year, embraced the gold standard and de-monetized silver, and there was a temporary shortage of coins during the transition. According to S.G. Reed in his 1941 History of Texas Railroads " To meet this [need] General Manager H. B. Andrews paid the men off partly in gutta percha tokens about the size of a quarter of the value of 25 cents 'good for meals' and which he agreed to redeem in full. These passed current at par not only at boarding houses but in stores along the line until several years after the road was completed. It was a common saying at the time that Peirce was the only man who was smart enough to build a railroad with meal tickets." These tokens represent the earliest evidence in "hardware" (versus paper) of the use of the Sunset Route phrase and logo. Info and photos by Ken Stavinoha. Click on the thumbnail images for larger versions.

DoubleEagle59

We're talking golf balls, right?

Broadstruck

<< <i>Well, that stumped me. Never heard of it. >>



Yeah I can imaging a few Google/Yahoo searches happening on this one

Broadstruck

>>



Shamika, Thanks for posting this example!

Since you own this Black Gutta-Percha example looking at the red areas on the obverse do you feel they occurred due to faulty color mixture

Shamika

It appears to be some sort of grime. But alas, I do not own this specimen.

PerryHall

Gutta percha is a hard black rubber that was used to make things like combs. It predates Bakelite and other early plastics. Early Colt revolvers had grip panels made of gutta percha.

ambro51

It was also used to make the uniform buttons on the dark green uniforms issued to Berdans Sharpshooters during the Civil War, as the govt slowly got the idea to try and "camo" the soldiers.

Swampboy

I remember reading that gutta percha was used to coat the first transatlantic cables.
I'm amazed to read it was also used to coin a token.

MacCrimmon

Oh, coins? I thought you wanted a pic of my root canal.

Broadstruck

<< <i>It was also used to make the uniform buttons on the dark green uniforms issued to Berdans Sharpshooters during the Civil War, as the govt slowly got the idea to try and "camo" the soldiers. >>



Scovill Manufacturing beyond buttons also made highly decorative Daguerreotype Photograph Cases and presentation holders for Silver and Bronze medals out of Gutta-Percha.

illini420

Is "Guttag Pedigree" close enough???

savoyspecial

i will admit to having no idea what this thread was about until i opened it......honestly, my first thought was that Broadstruck was doing a 'Good Purchases For the Weekend' thread but i wondered why he was invoking a mock-Italian accent

ambro51

<< <i>Scovill Manufacturing beyond buttons also made highly decorative Daguerreotype Photograph Cases and presentation holders for Silver and Bronze medals out of Gutta-Percha. >>

.......actually not true. The material used was called thermoplastic and is made from sawdust shellac a few other chemicals under heat and pressure in molds. Not related to gutta percha at all