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bill

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Posts posted by bill

  1. It has been awhile and then I added three new pieces in one day:

     

    The first a William Penn piece from 1893, perhaps a Columbian Exposition piece since 1682 to 1893 does not seem to correspond to a regular celebration date. The medal itself is 14mm.

     

    1022022.jpg

     

    Another 14mm medal, this one for William McKinley. I am guessing it is about 1900. The hole suggests it was worn on a ribbon, either for his campaign, inaugaration, or perhaps his funeral.

     

    1022024.jpg

     

    And the last suspended on a stickpin from the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. The Niagara Falls souvenir is 19mm.

     

    9704867709_5cdaac5c85_b.jpg

  2. The Brandon Manufacturing Co. made the Howe Scale. They likely distributed shell cards with demonstrations of their scales at the 1876 U.S. Centennial Exposition. The recipient of my store card weighed 156 pounds.

     

    9678356160_df306b1c95_b.jpg

     

    38mm, brass. 100 to 200 known making it one of the more common shell cards. The reverse is known in several different colors. Made by William F. Hyatt, successor to T.N. Hickcox & Co., New York.

  3. A shell card from Lent's New-York Circus. The troupe of trick riders and acrobats played in New York ca. 1868 in the winter and travelled throughout New England in the spring and summer months.

     

    9674956865_dd986b575d_b.jpg

     

    38mm, brass. The shell card known in thick and thin versions of which this example is thick. Reportedly, 20 to 30 are known.

  4. A new collecting subject for me (sort of). I had two, but now I have started to acquire a few more. They are fragile and few have survived as a result. Most are rare, although collectible since there is little published about them. Q. David Bowers and the Token and Medal Society are working on changing that.

     

    I was happy to get this piece from the Dakota Territory, 1868:

     

    9678032594_34259d93b7_b.jpg

     

    34mm, brass. Made by T.N. Hickcox & Co.

     

    According to Bowers: John Wanless supplied items to visitors and to the fort, general merchandise. He also furnished hay for horses. Apparently, he was from Denver City, Colorado Territory.

  5. First, based on your picture, I would not attempt to clean your medal. It is thinly gold-plated, but the surface is not that hard. You risk creating tiny hair-lines that will decrease its value or worse.

     

    I do not have any basis to guess how many have survived. These medals are not partuclarly valuable regardless of how many survive. Value depends on how many people want it and how much they are willing to pay. I paid $40 for mine and I am working on a collection of the entire series. I know there are others out there doing the same thing. Now that I have mine, I would not be bidding up the next collector to want one.

  6. I have to agree. Not a coin and not very interesting except as an example of performance art. I would not call it an investment and I think it will be illegal to sell them in Minnesota after August 1 (refering to Minnesota's new bullion coin dealer act).

     

    Thank you Art. Good decision to at least have the discussion here.

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