Post your favorite exonumia purchase of 2018
dcarr
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There is already a thread about favorite coin purchases of 2018.
So exclude actual coins in this thread and post your favorite exonumia purchase of 2018.
Excluding things that I produced this year, my two favorite purchases are:
1) Some things never change.
Silver circa 1708 Hamburg Germany satirical medal concerning government corruption.
One side shows a hand dispensing gold coins (which actually have a little bit of gold wash still on them) and a legend which basically translates as "you scratch my back". The other side shows a government official looking at something in his palm (perhaps said bribery coins), or possibly obscuring his face intentionally. The legend basically translates as "and I'll scratch yours".
2) The other item being the 1924 Denver Mint coin shipping tag recently posted in another thread:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1010165/
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I thought this one was pretty neat, still researching it which is also fun.
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
I have a collection of these poker chips with the silver inserts....Cheers, RickO
*Edit...Darn thing will not post... will try again later.
This 3" Pan Pacific medal was a gift from a forum friend
@dcarr
Your Newp was once ex CRO as I did a thread on it and research wise there's quite a few different obverse and reverse varieties.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/920432/this-reflects-how-many-of-us-feel-about-some-threads-on-the-forum-lately
@illini420, Below is all the research I did on John Geary as I own the same in copper.
1866 Major General John White Geary, Campaign for Governor of Pennsylvania, 31mm Diameter, Plain Edge, Copper, Struck by William H. Key
John White Geary had a colorful career as a governor of two states and was known as a consummate administrator as far west as California. Standing six feet, five and one half inches tall—Pennsylvania's tallest governor—and weighing 260 pounds, Geary was forceful, opinionated, compassionate, and sometimes compulsive. Geary was born December 30, 1819, in Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, the son of Richard Geary, an ironmaster and schoolmaster of Scottish heritage, and Margaret White, a native of Maryland with English roots.
Geary's mother had "inherited" several families of slaves, but she was determined to educate them and then set them free. This close family association with slaves had a great influence toward a love of freedom and policies during Geary's political career. At age fourteen, he attended Jefferson College in Canonsburg, but interrupted his studies when his father died in a wagon accident. His father had left ironmaking to become a teacher, so young Geary, barely older than the students, took his father's place for three years until he could save enough money to support his mother. Finally graduating from Jefferson College in 1841, and later completing studies in civil engineering and law, he first went to work in Kentucky before returning to Pennsylvania to work for the Allegheny Portage Railroad.
In 1843, he married Margaret Ann Logan, with whom he had several sons, but she died in 1853. Geary remarried the widowed Mary Church Henderson in 1858 in Carlisle. By then he had already risen to military and political prominence.
In 1849, after military service in the Mexican War, where he rose to the rank of colonel, President James Polk appointed Geary postmaster of San Francisco. In 1850, he was elected that city's first mayor. President Pierce appointed him governor of the controversial Kansas Territory in 1856, where he served for six months. Geary County, Kansas, was renamed in 1869 for John Geary after citizens objected to the county being named after Confederate President Jefferson Davis.
Politically a , Geary was a general throughout the Civil War, serving at Cedar Mountain, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg and was wounded several times. At the battle of Wauhatchie, Tennessee, Jefferson Davis ordered his six thousand Confederate troops to attack Geary's 1,500. During the battle, Geary's son Edward died in his arms and, motivated by revenge, Geary was victorious. After Sherman's destruction of Atlanta, Geary accepted the peaceful surrender of Savannah, Georgia, and became the military governor of the city in December 1864 before returning in January 1865 to the final days of the Southern war campaign.
After the war, despite Geary's dislike of Simon Cameron, Cameron's political machine chose him as the gubernatorial candidate in 1866. He had a sincere desire to guide Pennsylvania in a reunited country and won election handily over Hiester Clymer. Once in office Geary became independent, attacking the political influence of the railroads and vetoing a vast number of special interest bills. Governor Geary won a close reelection over Asa Packer without Cameron's support.
During his administration, the prosperity of Pennsylvania's growing industry was apparent, and Geary's government spent heavily on education and social programs, including a war orphans' home system. He also appointed a commission to handle claims of Pennsylvania citizens who lost property during the Confederate invasion of the state. After the disastrous Avondale mine fire on September 6, 1869, in Luzerne County, that claimed 111 lives, including nineteen children, Geary sponsored a bill that significantly improved mine safety, tax incentives for business, and began a fight for compulsory school education that would not be settled for thirty years.
In his annual message in 1871, Geary recommended sweeping reforms that were not popular with party factions, but he triumphed to the extent that a convention convened in 1872–1873, bringing about a new state constitution by 1874. At the time he left office, Geary faced intense criticism over payments made to Pennsylvania by the federal treasury to reimburse the state for its Civil War spending. Geary had appointed an agent to recover the funds and approved a 10 percent commission, which skimmed $300,000 in agent fees out of three million dollars recovered. No charges were ever filed.
Governor Geary died unexpectedly of a heart attack at age 53 on February 8, 1873, two weeks after leaving office and is buried in Harrisburg Cemetery.
I haven't been very actively purchasing anything lately unless something becomes available that I might never see again or at least in another decade. This new purchase fits as although I've read of this issue existing in German Silver researching I have never seen an example sold or photographically plated before.
These were struck and distributed at the 1914 Montreal ANA Convention. All metal types are struck on a roughly polished planchet and as these are all very short die run are fully proof like. The obverse design is a exact facsimile of the 1835 Walsh's General Store Hard Times Token HT-216 / Low-99. Although still scarce they are more common in metals such as Brass, Copper, and Aluminum. Thomas DeLorey only mentions a mintage for the Silver issue at 3-5 known of which I own the ex Virgil Brand 1990 sale provenance example. One of the Silver issues is in the ANS museum collection and another is in the Bank of Canada collection. Although this is the first time anyone has had the opportunity to see an example struck on a German Silver planchet.
Enjoy!
1914 Thomas Elder "Speed The Plow" DeLorey-83 / CA-2 Obverse, 28.75mm, German Silver, Uniface - blank reverse die with beaded border
I didn't do a lot in exonumia in 2018, and the two best things were from France:
Bronze, dated 1662, probably a 19th Century Restrike - Academe Royale
Silver, obverse dated 1814, possibly restruck, Consulting Tribunal of Rouen (reverse dated 1807).
Oops forgot about this
1860's J.C. Bailey U.S. Merchant Token, PA-34, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Brass, 28mm Diameter, Reeded Edge.
This is one of the stopper Philadelphia merchant advertisement tokens I never thought I’d own. Over the course of nearly 15 years it’s the higher grade example of only the second I’d seen. Donald Miller in 1963 and Benjamin Wright as far back as 1900 both called this token rare. Russell Rulau never managed to locate an example to borrow for photography and always just had a pencil sketch line drawing plate in his books. Since no example had sold at auction, Rulau never adjusted his price values over the decades. This is also a token which was missing within the John Ford sale of tokens acquired from the collections of Frederick Boyd and Wayte Raymond. Bailey’s business first appears in directories at the 1109 Spring Gardens Street in 1867.
Dedicated to the medals and coins collectors
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Well, not a metallic piece of exonumia, but my favorite for the year:
This is a previously unknown publication of Benjamin Franklin's announcement of the striking of the Libertas Americana medals, and as it turns out, it is the earliest publication of Franklin's announcement.
Not from this year...but one of the coolest exonumia type things I’ve come across ... rainbow toned sterling silver Pan American spoon from 1901
Dude. That is outstanding. What an exciting find that must have been. What are the particulars? Did you find it yourself? Primary research in Paris? I'd acid-free archival glass frame that sucker and put it on the wall. So cool!
--Severian the Lame
After several years, I finally completed a run of Foster Mint Silver Eagles. When I was in the mood to buy a boxed set there were just none to be found. I decided to piece together a set of what I could find loose. Once in a while a set is offered boxed but now that I already started the set loose, I didn’t want to step up to buy the expensive box set. I resigned to just pick off pieces in eBay when offered and when I had a little extra scratch and last week I received the final piece, this 10 ounce octagon. although bullion, I consider these much more than that because of the premium is much higher than melt, and exo because they depict eagle from classic American coinage.
Although an older purchase, while poking around my collection I had to pull out my Hamburg medal. I too was drawn to the piece and anytime I find a coin or medal with actual coins depicted it always has a place in my collection. It makes me feel good to know that great minds in the hobby are also attracted to the same things I am! Just sharing it to add to the OPs post, thanks for starting the thread Dan and adding to this fun thread everybody.
With internet research focusing on the Libertas Americana medal, I have been trying to record each of its publications during 1783. I have images of many of those publications, and some of the original documents. To my surprise, this particular Netherlands publication happened to show up on eBay last spring, at a reasonable buy-it-now price. It wasn't until I compared the dates with the other known publications that I found out that it was the earliest publication. Truly, I was stunned that not only was it an original printing, but actually the first of the announcements from Benjamin Franklin.
It's a multi-page document, and it now resides in an acid-free sleeve, pending a more permanent mounting.
Thanks for the info & link. I had not viewed that "face palm" thread until just now.
I'm not surprised that the item shown is ex-CRO, although I didn't know (or really care) when I bought it.
If I collected the genre, THIS would definitely be mine.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1838-Hard-Times-Token-Low-55-HT-63-nice-VF/263993922362?hash=item3d7743933a:g:-HUAAOSwnVRbxsfm
Interesting that your "face palm" medal is obviously from different dies.
I collected a few Foster silver bullion pieces before the premiums went up fairly high. I have one boxed set of those. I think I remember seeing that there are two types for one or more pieces in the set. Some say "Silver Eagle Sales" and some say "Hercaimy Enterprises" or something like that.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
This is my favorite non-coin of the year - both the 1st edition and the overstrike - does it qualify as exonumia?
Picture borrowed from MM Mint.....
Been chasing Jackson, MI store cards for many years. I was fortunate enough to be the winning bidder on this one. The NGC label calls this variety a 525D-4b but in the Third Edition of the Fuld Store Card Book the listing was updated to reflect that W. Jaxon and Wm. Jackson are the same person so the D Varieties were added to the C variety listings. It’s a R-9 with 2-4 estimated to exist.
"A penny hit by lightning is worth six cents". Opie Taylor
Great thread! I always enjoy seeing what other people find enjoyable.
There's a great big world of exonumia out there.
This is definitely my favorite of the year.
A set of extremely nice cathedral medals in the original box.
I have seen a few sets for sale but this is the first time that I have seen this particular one.
Had to have it.
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Found this at the NYINC last January. You know it's hard times when soldiers took the buttons off their uniforms to make some spending change! c.1825
Life member #369 of the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association
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Collector of:
Canadian coins and pre-confederation tokens
Darkside proof/mint sets dated 1960
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Now that 2018 is over, I can safely say that the following is my favorite. 2 inch diameter, gold, strong mirrors, issued to a historic Civil War and Indian Wars general who was one of the 3 commissioners of the Confederate surrender and the son of the Assayer of the Charlotte Mint.
More info here: https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1011339/a-civil-war-generals-gold-medal-history-in-your-hands#latest
Hmmm, can't nail it down to one but I can mail it down to a SCD collection.
Still not finished with the collage but getting close
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
Since it must be numismatic...my favorite purchase last year was one like this in silver.
It's not in the same league as most of the stuff already posted, but here is a counterstamp I was glad to find last year. It is a British counterstamp on a French 10 centimes, which actually circulated as legal tender in Great Britain (as one penny) for much of the 19th century.
This coin was hit with two different counterstamps that are common by themselves, but to find a coin with both is very uncommon.
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obverse face designed and made by D.Carr
BHNC #203
Reverse is from http://www.moonlightmint.com/other.htm
--Severian the Lame
heres mine
Another one of my favorite exonumia pieces this year is the 1796 Gallery Mint
Proof set in silver and gold.
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
I’m giving myself a wide birth accounting for the counterstamp
mark
Fellas, leave the tight pants to the ladies. If I can count the coins in your pockets you better use them to call a tailor. Stay thirsty my friends......
2 very different pieces, from very different places & times.
@Justacommeman that has got to be the nicest example I’ve seen.
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CoinsAreFun Toned Silver Eagle Proof Album
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Gallery Mint Museum, Ron Landis& Joe Rust, The beginnings of the Golden Dollar
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More CoinsAreFun Pictorials NGC
I bought this original McKinley/Roosevelt 1900 Indian cent political charm with its original ribbon from the grandson of the original owner who acquired it during the campaign. I have a couple other ones but have never seen one with the original ribbon in tact. Sadly, the grandson from whom I bought it died a few months after I bought this from him.
The Penny Lady®
On the lighter, more fun side of things, I missed these by only by a few months when they were issued and have been looking for them since. You had to order the silver and copper, but attend the dinner to get the brass. 3 years later, I was able to pick up not only 1 but 2 full sets. The US Mint should have made centennial slugs so I'm glad the PCNS and Dan Carr put together some! It's even nicer because the PCNS was created in 1915, the same year as the Panama Pacific Exposition, and is in my backyard.
That is a nice set.
Spectacular !
After those beautiful set here's mine. It's the 3" version. I have the 1.5" that looks the same.
I have always loved the early 50's Nose Cone Studebaker
Hard to pick one so here are my top 2. Both from same seller at the last Long Beach...
Charles III Album
Charles III Portrait Set
Charles IV Album
Charles IV Portrait Set
Spanish Colonial Pillar Set
Nothing too exciting for 2018. The most interesting exonumia piece I bought last year was a Maverick Coach token. East Boston is the location of the modern Logan Airport.
I found this piece to be bit more intresting, but a "donut" style ferrotype is not really exonumia.