"Where's the Fire?": pictorial love token on 1875 Seated Liberty dime

lordmarcovan

"Where's the Fire?": pictorial love token on 1875 Seated Liberty dime

Larger obverse picture
Larger reverse picture

Host coin: 1875 USA Seated Liberty dime.
Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered.
Reverse: Victorian firefighter's hose carriage, name (undecipherable) engraved below.

Ex- "whitewolfcoins", eBay, 06/27/2017.

This is another special pictorial love token. It depicts a fireman's hose reel carriage of the period. The carriage shown (which I believe might have been pulled by men rather than horses) is contemporary to the host coin. It is apparent that the onetime recipient and owner of this love token was a fireman, though unfortunately his name, seen in fancy script beneath the carriage, received a bit too much pocket wear to be readable today. The the rest of the piece has stood up well, however. It is likely that our Victorian fireman carried this coin on his watch chain.

I bought this within a week of buying another nice pictorial with a Victorian bicycle on it, from the same seller, for the same price. These were both exceptional pieces, and I didn't mind paying strong money for them. ("Strong money" for a love token is relative - still only a two-figure price tag in this case, as both pieces cost less than $100 each - if only just.)

Below is an image of a fire hose reel wagon of this era. Note the similarities to the one on the coin. It was originally published in The Popular Science Monthly in 1895.

(I reversed the orientation of the original image to make the carriage face right, like the one on the coin.)
Image source 1: Wikimedia Commons
Image source 2: The Popular Science Monthly, Vol. XLVII, via archive.org
(Note there is also an interesting archaeology article beginning on Page 12 of source link # 2!)

ricko

Nice love token LordM.... and unique... I would imagine it was done by/for a fireman of the day.... Cheers, RickO

CyndieChildress

I am amazed at how well the person did at making this love token.

Thanks for sharing! Very Cool!

silverpop

thebeav

Well, it's no "flying cigar"....but still a very nice token !

BillJones

That is a very neat item!

lordmarcovan

@thebeav said:
Well, it's no "flying cigar"....but still a very nice token !

LOL! I love that you've still got "The Flying Cigar" and are using it as an avatar!

lordmarcovan

That name on there is tantalizing... it looks like you could ALMOST scry it out.

I shall have to put this under a loupe and squint very hard at it when it arrives.

AmazonX

VERY cool.

lordmarcovan

@BillJones said:
That is a very neat item!

Getting praise from @BillJones is no small thing. He's a tuff one to impress, as I've learned from experience.

I consider that high praise.

WDP

The 1875 dime is only four years after the great Chicago Fire..... Or the The Second Chicago Fire - July 14, 1874. Who knows???

DIMEMAN

Very neat Love Token!

RogerB

"Hose Co." under wagon?

asheland

Very cool Lord M!

WinLoseWin

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Great little piece of history, along with the Victorian bicycle example. Not sure what the writing is, but doesn't seem like it should have worn so much heavier than the main design.

This thread seems under-appreciated. Dime topics can be very popular if you just add "dealer ripped me off..." or bet people that a TPG will straight grade it.
.

Mark

LordM:

For a type of coin in generally find boring, you definitely make the item both interesting and even exciting! BTW, you think that the recipient was a fire fighter. Might it be the case the donor was a fire fighter who gave it to his loved one so that she would always remember him?

Marfk

lordmarcovan

@Mark said:
LordM:

For a type of coin in generally find boring, you definitely make the item both interesting and even exciting! BTW, you think that the recipient was a fire fighter. Might it be the case the donor was a fire fighter who gave it to his loved one so that she would always remember him?

Marfk

That is entirely possible, though I think a tiny bit less likely than the fireman being the recipient rather than the donor.

But yes ... could have been either way. That's what I love about these pieces. They get you thinking.

Then there are the "backstory" ones, which may or may not be as impressive visually, but which reveal their secrets. It is exciting to look up a name on a love token (when full names, dates, or places are engraved on the coin) and discover old newspaper stories or even photos of the people!

@savoyspecial, @cystater, and @1960NYGiants have bought some of these "backstory" pieces from me when I switched my love token focus back to "holeys" recently. I had sold all the holey gold coins off my trademark hat during the recession, and it's time for a "reboot" - so I'm going to resurrect the "Holey Coin Hat"! Only this time, instead of holed gold, it'll be nicer love tokens like this.

Mark

LordM:

Given the average age of collectors, perhaps a better subtitle for this thread/idea is "Light My Fire".

Mark

mannie gray

That is a very cool piece!
Firefighting related collectibles are really hot right now (pun not intended), and I think you got a good buy.

mannie gray

@lordmarcovan said:
That name on there is tantalizing... it looks like you could ALMOST scry it out.

I shall have to put this under a loupe and squint very hard at it when it arrives.

I like how the engraver made the wheels look like eyes.

JJSingleton

Very cool. The added image makes the post. Otherwise I would not have a clue.

lordmarcovan

@mannie gray said:

@lordmarcovan said:
That name on there is tantalizing... it looks like you could ALMOST scry it out.

I shall have to put this under a loupe and squint very hard at it when it arrives.

I like how the engraver made the wheels look like eyes.

Neat! I had not noticed that.

I'm not sure it was deliberate - in fact I kinda doubt it was - but now that you've pointed that out, I won't be able to see it any other way.