Is this potty dollar period authentic?
Skrill90
Posts: 264 ✭✭✭
Came across this potty dollar, but the whole pills on the potty throws me off.
Do you think this piece is period correct? Or was it done at a later date?
Is it common for potty dollars to have words on the potty?
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Do you think this piece is period correct? Or was it done at a later date?
Probably original.
Is it common for potty dollars to have words on the potty?
No.
Hard to say. The engraving is very crude. Could be contemporary, but don't know how to prove it. I have a slight nagging doubt.
I don't like it. The engraving was done on a very well-worn coin. (The host coin is very worn and the engraving is still very sharp). And, the overall figure is very crude and lacking any attempt at certain details (in the hand area, for example).
Also, I don't know what PILLS means, but that is not in the style I would expect to see on an old engraving. It does not appear to have been done with an engraver's scribe in a lettering style common to the era, and it is not as crudely done as would be expected with a chisel or something similar. I could see it being done with a power tool such as a Dremel.
Pls note that the above critique is intentionally very harsh, and it is just my opinion. As far as I am concerned, with items like this the details need to be aggressively challenged and answered such that you can be comfortable with authenticity. Of course, it could also be old, but just not as old as standard Potty Dollars.
What @JBK said.
I have seen many, many potty dollars at coin shows...but that is the first one with lettering added....Cheers, RickO
Added wording is not common but shows up occasionally. The late Lester Burzinski of communion token authorship fame had possibly the best potty coin collection of the past few decades which contained several pieces with added wording (I know that I sold him at least one over the years). This collection was sold to Steve Tanenbaum but I lost track of it as his estate was dispersed.
I purchased the erotica collection of a well known Orlando area exonumia dealer about 10 years ago which also contained a couple pieces with simple added wording. The majority of the potty and other altered coins in that collection were sold to a Nevada auctioneer friend.
As to the piece linked in the OP, I don't like the chatter inside the word PILLS but I've seen a number of other similar simple outlined lower grade pieces -- no final opinion from an image only.
These were my concerns as well, I am glad someone else is seeing or catching on to it. The more I look at it, the more I'm convinced someone recently took a low grade trade and made a potty for a quick flip.
It's as "contemporaneously legitimate" as most "Hobo Nickels" you'll see.
I’m curious - do any of these, whether potty dollars or Civil War “dogtags” or whatever - ever legitimately look like they were colored in with a black felt tip pen? I seem to see it a lot and can’t imagine it as natural toning.
Legitimately? No, for potty $'s and I.D. tags -- but blacking (rarely enameling) of incuse lettering on tool & bag checks and sometimes even trade tokens from roughly the 1890 - 1925 period is often seen. I'll try to find an example or possibly someone else has one at hand.
It does not appear to be the case from the photos on eBay, but I wonder if perhaps this thing opens up - I wonder if "PILLS" could be a reference to a pill holder.
The description on eBay is very sparse so I don't expect that a weight is forthcoming.
I agree that it looks like recent engraving.. on a well worn coin. Also have concerns on the lettering style and chatter inside the letters as previously mentioned.