"Spooky Moon Face"
lordmarcovan
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"Spooky Moon Face"
Unusual pictorial love token engraving on 1862 Seated Liberty half dime
Larger obverse photo
Larger reverse photo
Obverse: Seated Liberty design, unaltered. Reverse: strange, round face with "F G D" initials and ornamental garland above, decorative carving to left and right. Ex- "acsb-rich", eBay, 11/13/2015.
I had this piece in my eBay watchlist for a while. The weird face on it was both repellent and fascinating at the same time. One wonders what that was all about? Could it be a representation of the moon? The lettering and ornamentation were obviously done by a competent engraver, which makes the primitive aspect of the carved face all the more baffling.
Over time, I eventually decided to make an offer on it, both because I didn't yet have a Seated half dime for my love token type set, and also just... because. It is certainly odd, unusual, and unique. Since "conservation" is not quite so controversial with love tokens, I might clean, retone, and reimage this piece later, as it seems a tiny bit spotty.
I just had to have it. Can't really explain why, except it seems perfect for an "oddball" collection like mine.
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
Unusual pictorial love token engraving on 1862 Seated Liberty half dime
Larger obverse photo
Larger reverse photo
Obverse: Seated Liberty design, unaltered. Reverse: strange, round face with "F G D" initials and ornamental garland above, decorative carving to left and right. Ex- "acsb-rich", eBay, 11/13/2015.
I had this piece in my eBay watchlist for a while. The weird face on it was both repellent and fascinating at the same time. One wonders what that was all about? Could it be a representation of the moon? The lettering and ornamentation were obviously done by a competent engraver, which makes the primitive aspect of the carved face all the more baffling.
Over time, I eventually decided to make an offer on it, both because I didn't yet have a Seated half dime for my love token type set, and also just... because. It is certainly odd, unusual, and unique. Since "conservation" is not quite so controversial with love tokens, I might clean, retone, and reimage this piece later, as it seems a tiny bit spotty.
I just had to have it. Can't really explain why, except it seems perfect for an "oddball" collection like mine.
Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set
0
Comments
Soon you'll have enough material to publish a love token book.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
TD
The face resembles some of the carvings on slate tombstones from New England in the 1600's and early 1700's. Many of them started out as realistic winged cherub heads (or death's heads) but over time evolved into very simple, even abstract designs. The engraving on the sides looks like stylized wings to me, and the vine in the initials also suggests funerary art, so this may be another memorial piece.
Kaz- you're right- it does very much resemble the "soul portraits" seen on early tombstones, now that you mention it!
Funny that didn't occur to me, though I am a longtime taphophile (enthusiast of old cemeteries).
However, the soul portraits on tombstones were a century and more earlier than this host coin, so who knows.
It was the bizarre and slightly creepy aspect of this thing that was actually the main selling point for me.
I am inclined to agree that it is funerary in nature. Can you please send me pictures of it for my story?
TD
Cap'n- it is not in hand yet but I can scan bigger pictures when it arrives if the ones here are not sufficient for your purposes.
Learn something new everyday.
The face resembles some of the carvings on slate tombstones from New England in the 1600's and early 1700's. Many of them started out as realistic winged cherub heads (or death's heads) but over time evolved into very simple, even abstract designs. The engraving on the sides looks like stylized wings to me, and the vine in the initials also suggests funerary art, so this may be another memorial piece.
Kaz- you're right- it does very much resemble the "soul portraits" seen on early tombstones, now that you mention it!
Funny that didn't occur to me, though I am a longtime taphophile (enthusiast of old cemeteries).
However, the soul portraits on tombstones were a century and more earlier than this host coin, so who knows.
It was the bizarre and slightly creepy aspect of this thing that was actually the main selling point for me.
I am inclined to agree that it is funerary in nature. Can you please send me pictures of it for my story?
TD
Cap'n- it is not in hand yet but I can scan bigger pictures when it arrives if the ones here are not sufficient for your purposes.
Please do.
taphophile (enthusiast of old cemeteries)...
Learn something new everyday.
When I worked for Coin World I had a friend that likes to visit old cemeteries. Not much else to do around there, so occasionally I would go with him.
In one small rural cemetery we found a stone with a woman's name on it, birth and death dates, and the following inscription:
"This stone was erected in her memory and paid for by her son after her daughter squandered all her mother's money!"
I'll bet that family had some awkward family gatherings!
In SW Iowa, my father took me on a tour of the family graveyards.
no coins resulted, if that is what you are wondering.
I came across one 1906 gravestone in Asheville, NC's Riverside Cemetery that said "killed by a desperado". That might not be as surprising in Boot Hill or some other Wild West graveyard, but Asheville is a reasonably cultured city back East, and 1906 seems a bit late for Wild West style gun-slinging.
It turns out there had been a mass shooting. The "active shooter" incidents all over the news nowadays are, sadly, nothing new. My present town of residence, Brunswick, Georgia (a much smaller city) had one in 1915 that claimed six or seven victims before the shooter was himself gunned down.
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This piece doesn't look nearly so spotty in hand, I'm glad to say.