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1870’s H. Gagnon & Company, Saint Roch, Quebec, Canada, Merchant Token, Breton-571, 27mm Diameter, Plain Edge, Thin Planchet, Copper.
Although Canadian publications have always stated these post confederation tokens had been struck in 1878 or as late as November 1879 this token was already mentioned as early as January 1, 1877 in the American Journal of Numismatics. Once considered rare as a newest discovered Canadian numismatic treasure Samuel & Henry Chapman sold a example for $4.75 in the July 1881 sale of the Marshall Lefferts collection and this token was valued at $5.00 in 1883 just a few years after having been issued. Obverse: Beaver facing right with a twig in its mouth with script “Jacques Cartier House, St Roch, Quebec”. Reverse: Script of six lines occupy the whole field – “One Cent Payable at H. Gagnon & Company, Crown Street, Saint Roch, Quebec “. The dies for this token were engraved in New York and to prevent any Canadian Customs interference or interruption were sent not to Quebec but to Saint Epiphanie a small village about a hundred and fifty miles down the river. The coins were struck there by a tinsmith named Garnet. H. Gagnon & Company was a firm which conducted a extensive retail business in dry goods and struck these tokens to their customers as an enticement for them to return. This was the only token issued as there were rumors that the government intended on interfering with any of their further issues. Among the 1,000 issued, 200 were instantly purchased by prominent Canadian coin, currency, medal, and token collector Mr. Cyrille Tessier of Quebec. Both long and short branch twig die varieties exist with one end projecting beyond the beaver’s mouth to nearly the grass. The example shown here is a short branch variety and all have soft centers and excessive die polishing lines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chicago Numismatic Society
Late in 1903 six men met over dinner at the Union League Club of Chicago and decided that it was time to form a local numismatic group. They discussed the scope and purpose of their infant society and each pledged to bring one new member when they met again. A report from a January 1904 meeting does not indicate how many were present, but enough were there to give this group the courage to call themselves the Chicago Numismatic Society.
Five of the six men present at the earlier dinner meeting were elected as officers: President William G. Jerrems, Jr., Vice-President William F. Dunham, Secretary and Librarian Ben G. Green, Treasurer Enos C. Verkler and Censor Michael P. Carey. The sixth member, Walter McDonald, remained without office. Mr. Jerrems exhibited a number of silver and bronze Greek coins and Mr. Dunham exhibited hard times tokens with a discussion of our national, political and financial development.
The Chicago Numismatic Society prospered for twelve years until 1915 and in that time attracted many numismatic notables such as Virgil M. Brand, Frank Duffield, Dr. George F. Heath and well known coin dealers B. Max Mehl of Fort Worth, Texas, Lyman Low of New York, S. Hudson Chapman of Philadelphia, Theophile Leonand of Chicago, and Jacob Hirsh of Munich Germany also honored the Society.
One other Chicago Numismatic Society important member was J. Henri Ripstra, later ANA president and skilled medal designer and engraver. Ripstra in 1905 created this medal featuring a high relief Athenian Owl Tetradrachm of which the obverse design was adopted as the official seal for the Chicago Numismatic Society.
Here's a scarce example of the first year this medal was issued while William Forrester Dunham was President. This is a member issued medal which has a plain edge since all the not issued to a member medals are stamped "NOT ISSUED TO A MEMBER" such as the specimens in the American Numismatic Society museum. On the medals reverse each star symbolizing a member who joined in the respective year.
1905 Chicago Numismatic Society Medal, Bronze, 50.5mm Diameter, Dies by J. Henri Ripstra.
Rare and Important Joseph J. Mickley Medal
1867 Joseph J. Mickley Medal PR63 Uncertified. Copper. Thick Planchet. Few collections of coins ever sold in the United States can compare in importance to the cabinet auctioned in 1867 of Joseph J. Mickley. But it is not just the sale itself that is of interest today--Mickley himself was at least as interesting, and had tastes in life, as varied as the coins he collected.
The story goes that at the age of 17, the young Mickley sought out a cent from his birth year: 1799. As later generations of numismatists would immediately recognize, but was unknown at the time, Mickley was born in the rarest year in the entire large cent series from 1793 to 1857. Considerable effort was expended before he finally located an example, and by then he was well on his way to assembling a date run of cents. In the same year, after the fire in the Mint in early 1816, a subterranean vault was uncovered. Two dozen or so old coin dies were discovered and sold to Mickley as scrap (from which he later produced restrikes with the help of Edward Cogan).
But coins were only one area of interest in Joseph Mickley's life. A piano maker and musical instrument repairman by trade, Mickley also had remarkable facility for learning languages. Fluent in French and German, two years after the sale of his collection he left for Europe, and in the several years he was abroad increased his fluency to also include Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and modern Greek. Following Mickley's death in early 1878, William E. DuBois related the following story about his friend in the American Journal of Numismatics: "In the entertaining manuscript of his travels, to show how the Russians are given to the study of other languages than their own, he states that at Nishni-Novgorod, a town well on to the border of Siberia, he went into a restaurant, where there were two young ladies, one of them smoking a cigarette. Supposing he might safely soliloquize in German, he said, "What a pity for such a nice girl to be smoking." Quickly she took out the cigar, and gave him to know that she understood women's rights and German besides. With his usual naivete, he adds, 'how careful we should be.' " Mickley took life head-on and embarked on adventures in his late sixties that would have frightened most men half his age. DuBois concluded, "He seemed bound to see everything in Europe, as well as the borders of Asia and Africa. He was almost stifled in the crypt of an Egyptian pyramid; needed his overcoat in Lapland, where he went in June to see the sun go all around without making a dip; fell down the ancient well of Cicero in Rome, and was knocked down by a careless driver in Constantinople, and taken up for dead..."
Joseph Mickley's collection of world and United States coins was judged "best all around" by John Adams, who also proclaimed it "perhaps the greatest U.S. collection." A portion of his extensive holdings were stolen in early 1867--an event that lessened his interest in furthering his numismatic holdings, and led to the outright sale of his non-gold coins to W. Elliot Woodward in October of that same year. Woodward then conducted a sale in Mickley's name, and unambiguously denied that the catalog contained any coins other than those that belonged to Mickley: "...not one piece of any description has been added...wishing to offer a catalogue of the Mickley collection only, I have refrained from any changes." However, Q. David Bowers apparently believes otherwise, as he stated in The History of United States Coinage As Illustrated by the Garrett Collection, " Woodward described the Mickley Collection in a 196-page catalogue comprising 3,349 lots, including additions from his own stock."
By any measure Woodward's sale of the Mickley Collection is a numismatic event of unparalleled proportions. The first lot in the U.S. section was a high grade 1794 dollar that brought $75 and was sold to Colonel Mendes Cohen. Also in the silver dollar section, Mickley's 1804 dollar brought an astounding $750, being purchased by William Lilliendahl. His proof sets commenced with 1827(!) and went through 1866, lacking only eleven years. Each denomination in the U.S. section is virtually complete and many duplicate proofs are included in the date runs. One has to wonder, though, about Woodward's understanding of the minting process and his definition of terms. His description of an 1842 Large Date half dollar is certainly enigmatic to modern readers: "Large date, quite as fine as the last, so fine that it can hardly be described as less than proof, rare." A "Splendid proof" 1794 half dime was offered (perhaps the Lelan Rogers coin?) and fetched a respectable $10.00, being sold to James Clemens.
When one reads through the catalog, it is easy to miss the importance of some of the pieces offered. For instance, an 1851 three cent silver: "Splendid proof, rare" hardly draws attention to the extraordinary rarity of the coin, but J.N.T. Levick appreciated its rarity so much he paid $60 for it. Mickley's large cents and half cents are comprehensive with many proofs sprinkled in generously among the later issues. Patterns are also well represented for the time, but one must remember this was before the large production of patterns began in the late 1860s. Mickley's Colonials probably could not be duplicated today at any price. Several pages list his holdings of Pine, Oak, and Willow Tree coinage (apparently Mickley was the first to use the name "Willow Tree" to describe these coins). Some attempt was made by Woodward to distinguish varieties of the state issues, but the sale was held seven years before Crosby published the first book that systematically organized Colonials by die varieties. Edward Cogan bought Mickley's Sommer Islands shilling for $80, and his Lord Baltimore penny brought $370--the strong prices in this section of the catalog being a testament to the popularity of early American coinage at the time. Non-U.S. coinage collected by Mickley is also very impressive to specialists, with especially fine runs of Roman Imperial coinage and English silver and copper since the Conquest.
Designed and engraved by William H. Key, a Brooklyn-born engraver, he was employed as assistant engraver at the Philadelphia Mint from 1864 to 1892. Key engraved dies for several Mint medals as well as private commissions. This is an especially attractive example of the medal issued by the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia. The surfaces are a lovely even brown with underlying hints of lilac and rose. The fields are deeply mirrored, and the only noticeable flaws are a carbon spot over the M in MICKLEY on the obverse, a thin contact mark below the T in PRESIDENT, and a contact mark in the field left of the word OF. A very pleasing example of this rare and important American numismatic medal.
It's
1879 Eli Kirk Price President of the Numismatic & Antiquarian Society Medal, 42mm Diameter, Bronze, Struck by William H. Key at the Philadelphia Mint
The Numismatic Society of Philadelphia was established on January 1, 1858 by a group of eight numismatists, including Joseph J. Mickley and William Sansom Vaux, becoming the first numismatic society in the United States. Mickley became the society's first president but eventually resigned. On March 23, 1865, the name was officially changed to the "Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia", due to the belief that the sole study of numismatics was not enough to keep the society in a prosperous condition. Prior to 1883, a constitution was approved for the society, and eventually a common seal was introduced. Subsequently, the society was also able to hire a hall as a place of meeting.
Formed in 1857, the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia (NAS) was a non-profit organization “dedicated to the encouragement and promotion of numismatic science and antiquarian research.” Important members of the organization included William S. Vaux, Joseph J. Mickley, Henry P. McIlhenny, Dr. D. G. Brinton and Eli Kirk Price. Meetings were often held in the homes of members, where coins and medals were displayed and papers on a variety of subjects, including the transition from wooden sailing vessels to steel steamships, the collections of the Union League, Chinese export porcelain, and paper making at Ivy Mills, were read.
Although Canadian publications have always stated these post confederation tokens had been struck in 1878 or as late as November 1879 this token was already mentioned as early as January 1, 1877 in the American Journal of Numismatics. Once considered rare as a newest discovered Canadian numismatic treasure Samuel & Henry Chapman sold a example for $4.75 in the July 1881 sale of the Marshall Lefferts collection and this token was valued at $5.00 in 1883 just a few years after having been issued. Obverse: Beaver facing right with a twig in its mouth with script “Jacques Cartier House, St Roch, Quebec”. Reverse: Script of six lines occupy the whole field – “One Cent Payable at H. Gagnon & Company, Crown Street, Saint Roch, Quebec “. The dies for this token were engraved in New York and to prevent any Canadian Customs interference or interruption were sent not to Quebec but to Saint Epiphanie a small village about a hundred and fifty miles down the river. The coins were struck there by a tinsmith named Garnet. H. Gagnon & Company was a firm which conducted a extensive retail business in dry goods and struck these tokens to their customers as an enticement for them to return. This was the only token issued as there were rumors that the government intended on interfering with any of their further issues. Among the 1,000 issued, 200 were instantly purchased by prominent Canadian coin, currency, medal, and token collector Mr. Cyrille Tessier of Quebec. Both long and short branch twig die varieties exist with one end projecting beyond the beaver’s mouth to nearly the grass. The example shown here is a short branch variety and all have soft centers and excessive die polishing lines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chicago Numismatic Society
Late in 1903 six men met over dinner at the Union League Club of Chicago and decided that it was time to form a local numismatic group. They discussed the scope and purpose of their infant society and each pledged to bring one new member when they met again. A report from a January 1904 meeting does not indicate how many were present, but enough were there to give this group the courage to call themselves the Chicago Numismatic Society.
Five of the six men present at the earlier dinner meeting were elected as officers: President William G. Jerrems, Jr., Vice-President William F. Dunham, Secretary and Librarian Ben G. Green, Treasurer Enos C. Verkler and Censor Michael P. Carey. The sixth member, Walter McDonald, remained without office. Mr. Jerrems exhibited a number of silver and bronze Greek coins and Mr. Dunham exhibited hard times tokens with a discussion of our national, political and financial development.
The Chicago Numismatic Society prospered for twelve years until 1915 and in that time attracted many numismatic notables such as Virgil M. Brand, Frank Duffield, Dr. George F. Heath and well known coin dealers B. Max Mehl of Fort Worth, Texas, Lyman Low of New York, S. Hudson Chapman of Philadelphia, Theophile Leonand of Chicago, and Jacob Hirsh of Munich Germany also honored the Society.
One other Chicago Numismatic Society important member was J. Henri Ripstra, later ANA president and skilled medal designer and engraver. Ripstra in 1905 created this medal featuring a high relief Athenian Owl Tetradrachm of which the obverse design was adopted as the official seal for the Chicago Numismatic Society.
Here's a scarce example of the first year this medal was issued while William Forrester Dunham was President. This is a member issued medal which has a plain edge since all the not issued to a member medals are stamped "NOT ISSUED TO A MEMBER" such as the specimens in the American Numismatic Society museum. On the medals reverse each star symbolizing a member who joined in the respective year.
1905 Chicago Numismatic Society Medal, Bronze, 50.5mm Diameter, Dies by J. Henri Ripstra.
Rare and Important Joseph J. Mickley Medal
1867 Joseph J. Mickley Medal PR63 Uncertified. Copper. Thick Planchet. Few collections of coins ever sold in the United States can compare in importance to the cabinet auctioned in 1867 of Joseph J. Mickley. But it is not just the sale itself that is of interest today--Mickley himself was at least as interesting, and had tastes in life, as varied as the coins he collected.
The story goes that at the age of 17, the young Mickley sought out a cent from his birth year: 1799. As later generations of numismatists would immediately recognize, but was unknown at the time, Mickley was born in the rarest year in the entire large cent series from 1793 to 1857. Considerable effort was expended before he finally located an example, and by then he was well on his way to assembling a date run of cents. In the same year, after the fire in the Mint in early 1816, a subterranean vault was uncovered. Two dozen or so old coin dies were discovered and sold to Mickley as scrap (from which he later produced restrikes with the help of Edward Cogan).
But coins were only one area of interest in Joseph Mickley's life. A piano maker and musical instrument repairman by trade, Mickley also had remarkable facility for learning languages. Fluent in French and German, two years after the sale of his collection he left for Europe, and in the several years he was abroad increased his fluency to also include Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Russian, and modern Greek. Following Mickley's death in early 1878, William E. DuBois related the following story about his friend in the American Journal of Numismatics: "In the entertaining manuscript of his travels, to show how the Russians are given to the study of other languages than their own, he states that at Nishni-Novgorod, a town well on to the border of Siberia, he went into a restaurant, where there were two young ladies, one of them smoking a cigarette. Supposing he might safely soliloquize in German, he said, "What a pity for such a nice girl to be smoking." Quickly she took out the cigar, and gave him to know that she understood women's rights and German besides. With his usual naivete, he adds, 'how careful we should be.' " Mickley took life head-on and embarked on adventures in his late sixties that would have frightened most men half his age. DuBois concluded, "He seemed bound to see everything in Europe, as well as the borders of Asia and Africa. He was almost stifled in the crypt of an Egyptian pyramid; needed his overcoat in Lapland, where he went in June to see the sun go all around without making a dip; fell down the ancient well of Cicero in Rome, and was knocked down by a careless driver in Constantinople, and taken up for dead..."
Joseph Mickley's collection of world and United States coins was judged "best all around" by John Adams, who also proclaimed it "perhaps the greatest U.S. collection." A portion of his extensive holdings were stolen in early 1867--an event that lessened his interest in furthering his numismatic holdings, and led to the outright sale of his non-gold coins to W. Elliot Woodward in October of that same year. Woodward then conducted a sale in Mickley's name, and unambiguously denied that the catalog contained any coins other than those that belonged to Mickley: "...not one piece of any description has been added...wishing to offer a catalogue of the Mickley collection only, I have refrained from any changes." However, Q. David Bowers apparently believes otherwise, as he stated in The History of United States Coinage As Illustrated by the Garrett Collection, " Woodward described the Mickley Collection in a 196-page catalogue comprising 3,349 lots, including additions from his own stock."
By any measure Woodward's sale of the Mickley Collection is a numismatic event of unparalleled proportions. The first lot in the U.S. section was a high grade 1794 dollar that brought $75 and was sold to Colonel Mendes Cohen. Also in the silver dollar section, Mickley's 1804 dollar brought an astounding $750, being purchased by William Lilliendahl. His proof sets commenced with 1827(!) and went through 1866, lacking only eleven years. Each denomination in the U.S. section is virtually complete and many duplicate proofs are included in the date runs. One has to wonder, though, about Woodward's understanding of the minting process and his definition of terms. His description of an 1842 Large Date half dollar is certainly enigmatic to modern readers: "Large date, quite as fine as the last, so fine that it can hardly be described as less than proof, rare." A "Splendid proof" 1794 half dime was offered (perhaps the Lelan Rogers coin?) and fetched a respectable $10.00, being sold to James Clemens.
When one reads through the catalog, it is easy to miss the importance of some of the pieces offered. For instance, an 1851 three cent silver: "Splendid proof, rare" hardly draws attention to the extraordinary rarity of the coin, but J.N.T. Levick appreciated its rarity so much he paid $60 for it. Mickley's large cents and half cents are comprehensive with many proofs sprinkled in generously among the later issues. Patterns are also well represented for the time, but one must remember this was before the large production of patterns began in the late 1860s. Mickley's Colonials probably could not be duplicated today at any price. Several pages list his holdings of Pine, Oak, and Willow Tree coinage (apparently Mickley was the first to use the name "Willow Tree" to describe these coins). Some attempt was made by Woodward to distinguish varieties of the state issues, but the sale was held seven years before Crosby published the first book that systematically organized Colonials by die varieties. Edward Cogan bought Mickley's Sommer Islands shilling for $80, and his Lord Baltimore penny brought $370--the strong prices in this section of the catalog being a testament to the popularity of early American coinage at the time. Non-U.S. coinage collected by Mickley is also very impressive to specialists, with especially fine runs of Roman Imperial coinage and English silver and copper since the Conquest.
Designed and engraved by William H. Key, a Brooklyn-born engraver, he was employed as assistant engraver at the Philadelphia Mint from 1864 to 1892. Key engraved dies for several Mint medals as well as private commissions. This is an especially attractive example of the medal issued by the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia. The surfaces are a lovely even brown with underlying hints of lilac and rose. The fields are deeply mirrored, and the only noticeable flaws are a carbon spot over the M in MICKLEY on the obverse, a thin contact mark below the T in PRESIDENT, and a contact mark in the field left of the word OF. A very pleasing example of this rare and important American numismatic medal.
It's
1879 Eli Kirk Price President of the Numismatic & Antiquarian Society Medal, 42mm Diameter, Bronze, Struck by William H. Key at the Philadelphia Mint
The Numismatic Society of Philadelphia was established on January 1, 1858 by a group of eight numismatists, including Joseph J. Mickley and William Sansom Vaux, becoming the first numismatic society in the United States. Mickley became the society's first president but eventually resigned. On March 23, 1865, the name was officially changed to the "Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia", due to the belief that the sole study of numismatics was not enough to keep the society in a prosperous condition. Prior to 1883, a constitution was approved for the society, and eventually a common seal was introduced. Subsequently, the society was also able to hire a hall as a place of meeting.
Formed in 1857, the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Philadelphia (NAS) was a non-profit organization “dedicated to the encouragement and promotion of numismatic science and antiquarian research.” Important members of the organization included William S. Vaux, Joseph J. Mickley, Henry P. McIlhenny, Dr. D. G. Brinton and Eli Kirk Price. Meetings were often held in the homes of members, where coins and medals were displayed and papers on a variety of subjects, including the transition from wooden sailing vessels to steel steamships, the collections of the Union League, Chinese export porcelain, and paper making at Ivy Mills, were read.
To Err Is Human.... To Collect Err's Is Just Too Much Darn Tootin Fun!
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and i thought i had made some long posts!
kudos BS.
.