"Two Bits for an Odd Fellow"

lordmarcovan

"Two Bits for an Odd Fellow"



Fraternal lodge token on 1857 Seated Liberty quarter







Larger obverse image

Larger reverse image



Host coin: 1857 Seated Liberty quarter. Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered. Reverse: planed off and re-engraved with a fasces supported by three sets of double columns, all-seeing eye above, Odd Fellows symbol (three conjoined links) below. Ex-"realap13" (eBay), 07/08/2016.



This is a neat fraternal organization token. While I'm mostly unfamiliar with the "temple" (column and fasces) elements, the triple links below are obviously the symbol of the international Odd Fellows organization and stand for "Amicitia Amor et Veritas" (or "Friendship, Love, and Truth"). I've also seen that all-seeing eye in some of their other iconography. Interestingly, the artist who engraved of the reverse did not choose to orient his engraving in relation to the obverse of the host coin, but chose a seemingly more random rotation- note the hole position.



I like this piece but am not a fan of the somewhat scuzzy obverse toning, so I may later attempt a localized cleaning on that side while leaving the reverse alone. Then I'll need to reimage this later. (Really, as of this typing, my entire "Oddball" collection is in need of proper imaging, as thus far I've usually just recycled the previous sellers' pictures.) But the slightly ugly toning might have actually worked to my advantage a bit, since I won this piece at a pleasantly inexpensive price for a pictorial love token, let alone one on a pre-Civil War quarter host coin with nice details.



Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set

Aethelred

Meh

DIMEMAN

Kinda neat.

lordmarcovan

Originally posted by: Aethelred

Meh

Huh. You seem to echo the sentiments of my bidding competitors, who let me scoop it up on the cheap.



I agree that it does look rather "meh" in the present photos, but I personally think that's more because of the uglyish obverse toning and not because of the engraving itself. I think it was a good buy for the money (under $37 after shipping), and it should benefit from a little "conservation" and reimaging later.

Aethelred

I will grant that the symbolism is certainly interesting and that if this one could talk it would tell some interesting stories.

But it is not going to win any beauty contests.

Aethelred

Not that coins have to be pretty to be interesting or important, they do not and often it is the ugly ones that have the most to teach us.

ricko

Nice acquisition LordM..... another well done token... and an excellent price. Cheers, RickO

carabonnair

I like this one very much. My first thought was - if it were on a dime, it could masquerade as a three cent nickel!

lordmarcovan

It arrived today and looks OK in hand, even without dipping.

ajaan

But it is not going to win any beauty contests.

This from a guy who collects coins with a bunch of old ugly Romans on them.