Unusual 1916 Standing Liberty token - Cosgrove Airways 1928
dcarr
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I picked this up at a recent local coin show. I have not seen one before.
It is larger than a normal quarter dollar. It appears to be made of silver, or at least silver plated.
27.5mm diameter, smooth edge, medal-turn alignment, 8.5 grams.
I have just started researching it, but I have not found much of anything so far.
25
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Not sure if this helps but it's a start.
https://www.tokencatalog.com/token_record_forms.php?action=DisplayTokenRecord&td_id=694967&inventory_id=870860&attribution_id=724818
A similar token sold on eBay.ca has a description "Col. C.B. 'Burt' Cosgrove: Cosgrove made his first solo flight at the age of 15 in a Curtiss 'Jenny' (JN-4D) bi-plane that he had assembled himself. While still in his early twenties, he went on to become the first director of the Tucson airport, where he worked with Col. Charles Lindbergh setting up the nation's first transcontinental airline route. After beginning active duty with the U.S. Air Corps in the mid-1930's, Cosgrove piloted the the experimental B-17 bomber and worked with General 'Gene' Eubank to organize the famed 19th Bombardment Group which trained at Albuquerque's Kirtland Field." -- That was apparently lifted from https://airandspace.si.edu/support/wall-of-honor/col-c-b-burt-cosgrove-jr
This page has more information on him from around that time but no mention of "Cosgrove Airways": https://dmairfield.org/Collections/Cosgrove Collection/Airplanes/index.html. It feels like a tongue-in-cheek thing rather than a legitimate business. I didn't find much else.
Way Kewl!
Most interesting 🤔
What @CaptHenway said.
The choice of the 1916 quarter design was presumably intentional. I wonder if it was a sort of risqué promotional item given to people Cosgrove interacted with (customers, suppliers, etc.), much like the girlie calendars that auto parts companies gave (still give?) to mechanics and auto shops.
I'd be interested to know if there are any other tokens with the same obverse.
"C.B. Cosgrove was a young entrepreneur. The Tucson Star of July 29, 1928 carries an article describing his formation, with partner H.W. Durham, of the Southwest Air Service, Inc. The Service was planned to open at the Davis-Monthan Airfield by September 1 that year. Incorporation papers for the Service were filed just a week earlier on July 21 in Phoenix."
https://dmairfield.org/people/cosgrove_cb/index.htm
www.brunkauctions.com
same exact token, now cleaned a little
That's gotta be it. Great find!
Same "EXACT" coin? Interesting! Yes, I didn't notice that at first. I looked closer and I see some die markers. So now I'm just wondering who owned/had this token when it was photographed on this token website and how it got into the hands of DC.... Not that it really matters.
BTW: Dan, you should not have cleaned that token!! 🤣 😂 😉
You are correct. Good catch.
Could this be related?
https://www.cosgroveaircraft.com/
The token catalog site mentions that the photo was contributed by Neal Hatgi and according to one online source he has connection to the Denver Coin Expo
https://www.rockymtnexpos.com/contact.html
www.brunkauctions.com
The Colonel had quite the life. Cool that he built his first plane. Nice token find Dan. Be nice to id the "M" mark.
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@Namvet69 Hermon Atkins MacNeil. What do I win?
www.brunkauctions.com
But it's raised, not incused!
Seems 2 different person with the last name of Cosgrove were active in aviation in 1928.
“C.B. Cosgrove” as previously mentioned, who was operating in various West Coast locations. He was a sales rep in addition to a pilot
Was also an F.A. Cosgrove who was a flight instructor …..
Just scratched the surface, but didn’t find any reference to “Cosgrove Airways.” Perhaps part of C.B.’s sales pitch? —but that is just a guess…..
Maybe Cosgrove Airways was a one plane fly by night start-up for a very short time? The Colonel was the manager (1928-1932)of Davis-Monthan airfield which would lead one to believe they may have had plane sitting around for a passenger/ cargo service operation. Probably not very well known, possibly? I think I had read in an article he was working with Lindbergh during that time frame developing the first transatlantic airway. Don’t quote me on this, my eyes are tired tonight. The CAA wasn’t created until 1938 so who knows if there was any type of record keeping on this service, if indeed it is aviation related. I find this interesting , it’s kind of a dead end to identify. I too have a medal of some sort that is monster toned and I cannot identify the reverse with other medals of the same obverse.
This is exactly the same obverse J. Cline used on his tokens not terribly long before he passed. Patrick Mint comes to mind.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Could very well be correct!. Just scratched the surface. What a great era, of true pioneers--from piston biplanes in 1928, to jets just a short time later at the close of World War II.
I agree they are pretty darn similar. These had his Florida address on the reverse side and he moved there in the mid-1990s. I think he was giving the tokens away at shows into the 2000-2010 range. Below is a composite of the Cosgrove token on the left and the Cline token on the right.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
Surely an interesting token to own.
Boy, they sure are close, but look at the "morse code" inner border on the left side of each, especially above the top pf the wall. It seems to be connected to the rim on the Cosgrove piece, but not on the Cline piece.
That said, I could see both dies as having been made from the same hub used by a token manufacturer. Cline might have found an old, second obverse die and used it for his modern tokens.
Class VI doubling on the Cosgrove piece, perhaps? The Cosgrove piece posted by Oakstar above seems to be more sharply detailed.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
The leaves on the sprig of the original token extend to the top of the 'L' in Liberty. Clines leaves are quite a bit shorter.
The Cosgrove and Cline pieces do appear to be from the same source model. I would need much better pictures of a Cline token to be able to determine if they are from the same die.
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I was concerned about the black spots getting worse.
So I "conserved" it to my liking.
PS: The originator of the other photo is the owner of the Denver Coin Expo.
I acquired the token at a local (smaller) show from a different individual.
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The ebay listing had a better condition but i couldn't get an obverse.
https://www.cafr.ebay.ca/itm/166531870294
I did find a couple of other old listings that have the same reverse, but one had a buffalo obverse (I think it is connected to the above reverse) and the other an Indian gold obverse.
I'll post some later. I see what could be a similar die crack between the two.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Here are a couple close-ups of some die scratches on my Cline quarter. What I thought was a crack wasn't. Mine is a bit blotchy from toning.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Mine appears to have the same die scratches, but they are much fainter because of the later die state. So it is hard to tell for sure. The scratches could also be artifacts in the model that was used when engraving the die(s).