bill

I am fairly certain it was Schwaab Stamp and Seal of Milwaukee. They were a major manufacturer of medals and badges of all sizes at the time. The pieces are not typical of the work of Moise-Klinkner at the time.

Struck in silver, bronze, and aluminum. They were produced in two or three sizes. They were one of many struck to commemorate the Hudson-Fulton celebrations. Still a popular medal.

Interesting article.

Not particularly well preserved consider the fact that the college still has unissued pieces after all these years.

Schnapps, what better theme for a shell card? These count as relatively common and are mostly high quality (better than mine pictured here). That means lots of people saved and preserved them over the years. They must have liked schnapps.

Yes, Scientific American is the magazine, Scientific American.

A couple new purchases.

1877, second year of the US Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The medal was struck on the US Mint first steam press, purchased by George B. Soley. He travelled to various expositions striking Lord's Prayer medals to sell as souvenirs. The press stands in the entrance atrium of the ANA today.

Another McKinley Lord's Prayer Medal, this one dated 1901.

Nice medal for your collection.

RobertJ and I visited Medallic Art and we learned the Mission medal set was issued for Granda Enterprises in 1961. The issuing company was actually Altobelli Jewelers in Los Angeles (Granda Enterprises being their business name for the medal series). The following pieces were issued before the series ended. Perhaps sales were not what was expected. Two people designed the medals (their names are listed after their medals).

Father Serra (this is not the US Mint medal struck in 1964). ---(Cataldo Papaleo)
San Antonio de Padua ---(Cataldo Papaleo)
San Gabriel ---(Maria Altobelli)
San Luis Obispo ---(Maria Altobelli)
San Juan Capistrano ---(Maria Altobelli)
San Buenaventura ---(Cataldo Papaleo)
Santa Barbara ---(Maria Altobelli)
San Jose ---(Maria Altobelli)
San Miguel ---(Maria Altobelli)
San Fernando ---(Cataldo Papaleo)
San Luis Rey ---(Maria Altobelli)
San Raphael ---(Maria Altobelli)
La Purisima ---(Maria Altobelli)
Soledad ---(Maria Altobelli)

All of our pieces are brilliant proofs. I have never seen anything but that on the market. The Medallic Art archive collection has only one piece from the series, the Soledad medal. It is struck in bronze and antiqued, much different than the medals as issued in the series. RobertJ's discovery of the 1974 medal pictured above suggests that Altobelli Jewelers may have continued to issue medals from time-to-time, or Maria had her own business as a sculpture. Clearly there is more to this story to be learned. Unfortunately, Medallic Art records do not tell us mintage figures.

As a side note, the archivist at Medallic Art reports that she receives more inquires about this series than any other medal.

Cool piece. I love the pedigree.

It certainly does seem to be related to the mission series. Great find.

Interesting that the Goetz pattern piece appears to have been handled, carried as a pocket piece, or maybe even circulated. Maybe it was just poorly handled by a collector over the years or fogotten in a desk drawer.

Very nice coin. I am impressed.

May he live on in your good memories.

Great piece.

If it has the eagle on the back, then it is not the Tovio Johnson medal.

Interesting question. I know someone researching the series. I will try to find out if he knows. If I understand everything I have heard, the serial numbers give you no clue as to how many were actually made. The total number was less than 5000. The serial numbers were applied when pieces sold. If you were buying the series, you could be assured of getting the same serial number on the entire set. Otherwise, the numbers were not random, but the were not struck in a serial fashion either.

What Art said. I believe there is a privately issued book out as well. I have not seen it myself, but I did see the collection at the ANA summer show in Philadelphia. Spectacular collection. I'll post the info if I can refind it.

Both are nice and I like the way you present them.

I believe the item you are asking about has been removed from Ebay. Given its nature, one must beware of counterfeits. Slabbing helps, but then one must beware of fake slabs and verify the serial number on the slab with the TPG.

I have purchased over 1000 items on Ebay over the years and have never received a fake item. I had one item that I never received and Ebay refunded my money when the seller did not respond. I had one item not received that the seller refunded when I notified them. I had two items shipped that were not the items pictured in the lot on Ebay. In the first case, I received the proper item from the seller, an apology, and a refund of my costs. In the second case, there were actually two different versions of the medal I bought. The seller did not realize that and thought he had sent the correct piece and could not find the other. I received a refund and a month later the dealer sold me the correct piece for half of what I had bid as an apology. He had misplaced the piece and understood his mistake when he had it in hand. He completed the sale by giving me a discount even theough the piece I bought was a rare variety.

Are there more cases of fraud on Ebay than on a bourse floor? Probably, but I would not spend several thousands of dollars on an early silver dollar withour first inspecting it in hand or knowing the dealer. Are there good honest sellers on Ebay? Most definitely.

Yes a beautiful piece and an excellent job of photography.

ditto what constanius said.

.9990 x .5353 x $21 = $11.23 silver value today.

Interesting medal. The edge dings definitely hurt its value, but it is a cool piece nevertheless.

A Mexican shell card struck by a U.S. manufacturer. There are a handful of pieces known, but all are rare. Presidio del Norte was a fort built on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande across from Presidio, Texas in what is now Ojinaga, Mexico.

Guillermo Hagelsieb of Presidio del Norte (now Ojinaga) issued circular 10-centavos card tokens dated 1869 and 1870, as well as this shell card.

According to Worthington's catalog of Chihuahua tokens, Guillermo (Johann Friederik Wilheim) Hagelsieb was born in Cassel, Germany on 6 March 1832 and migrated to Galveston, Texas in 1852. He eventually ended up in Ojinaga. He was Director of the official journal, El Estado de Chihuahua, in November 1885 and died in 1902. Grove lists the piece under hacienda tokens, while Prendergast lists the paper tokens under mining scrip.