bill

Perhaps related to the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, or more likely a Lafayette celebration?

I think most of us here would say no. There are times when coins need to be "conserved," but that is a task best left to those who know what they are doing. I can relate the experience of a friend who sometimes cleans dirty pieces with MS-70, basically a coin "soap." Most of the time it works fine, but sometimes he damages or destroys an attractive piece when he thought the action would be perfectly safe. In general, its a really bad idea.

Damn. Drinking parties must be fun at your house.

Congratulations. Nice coin. (and I like the black background)

Yes, it is a double struck cent, the second strike about 90% off center.

I wish you would stop posting items such as this tiger. I have enough things to collect as it is. I do not need to collect anything else, yet your posts get my blood running. Beautiful piece and the collector number adds a degree of character. Congratulations on an excellent addition to your collection.

I remember that many banks in Germany sold gold and silver medals in the 60s of all sorts of designs. It was a way of selling bullion in small lots. They probably still do so. Gold was not sold in the U.S. at the time, but many of the designs, especially Kennedy pieces, looked like they were American made even though they were not.

Congratulations.

I maintain similar displays for all my gold medals.

(That should provide one clue to the number of gold medals in my collection.)

The set is also featured in an article by Jeff Shevlin and myself in the January 2013 issue of the Numismatist. And thank you Roger. He originally found the set, then sold it to me.

I crack pieces out of slabs when I buy them for my research interests (which are always my collecting interests). If I do not need to examine it more closely, I usually leave it in the slab because of the "value" problem.

Some examples:

I bought this set slabbed, but I wanted them in their original box for photography and publication. They are very small and difficult to properly photograph if you want to re-create the set in the box in a photograph. I lost value when I cracked them out, but they were more important and useful for my purposes out of the slabs and in the original box.

A second example (no pictures) are cases where information is lost when the piece is in a slab. I am currently researching a so-called dollar that is listed in the catalog as being struck in silver, silver-plated copper, copper, and aluminum. I have all four, the silver piece being encased in a slab and labelled silver. After a couple of years studying these pieces, weighing them, and performing specific gravity tests, I came to the conclusion that there are no silver pieces, only silver-plated. At the end of my studies, I broke out my NGC "silver" piece. Guess what? It weighs the same as the silver-plated pieces and has the same specific gravity. A silver piece must weigh more than a silver-plated copper piece since silver is denser than copper (hence the higher specific gravity). I had the silver piece, the silver-plated piece (known to be plated because the underlying copper shows through at worn high spots), and a heavily toned (black) silver piece with traces of copper showing in a rim ding. The silver piece tested 99% silver. The silver-plated piece tested 98% silver. The heavily silver tarnished plated piece tested 78% silver. Non-destructive testing devices used in coin stores only measure the surface of a piece.

I lost about half the value of my silver piece by cracking it out of the slab, but I would be remiss to sell the piece as silver when I strongly suspected it was not. Without knowing the weight of the piece, there is no non-destructive way to prove any of the so-called silver so-called pieces are in fact silver. Given the size of these pieces, a true silver piece should weight 4 to 5 grams more than the silver-plated pieces. So far, I have not encountered one that met that test. Given that "silver" pieces are slabbed without a weight on the label, there is no way to prove that the "silver" on the label is correct and I believe they are all wrong.

Welcome.

And the anti-Nazi satircal piece:

Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch. The Nazis are shown as puppets and the jester laughing at them is a Communist.

Not an anti-Nazi token, but this satirical piece carries the American argument back to the late 1800s. The dispute over the value of gold and silver was essentially the same argument as today, do we have a restrictive monetary policy to protect wealth or a liberal monetary policy to promote prosperity. Greatly simplified, but the mechanics are roughly the same with gold and silver hard money taken out of the equation.

Bummer. Then again, I guess his day was a bummer as well.

No

I've used a hammer striking on the edge at the corners, moving from corner to corner until the slab cracks. Then I've use the screwdriver to finish the process. It takes a few times to learn to swing the hammer (actually the flat head of a heavy hatchet) with enough force to crack the slab, but not so much that you actually shatter the plastic. The vise looks cleaner. I have glasses for eye protection just in case.

Isn't this a great forumn. It took six years, but an answer was found. A dedicated bunch hanging around this place.

One of the principals in Pegasi is a specialist in early French jetons as a personal collecting theme. He rarely places bargain prices on them since he knows what they are and how scarce the are.

Yes, it is aluminum. My partisan views are the exact opposite of the token, but I love the political satire, especially when it points in my direction. I think I have posted the following a year or so ago:

Humor is so often the best medicine for what ails us. I always told my kids to stop laughing when they would get angry. It is hard to stay angry when you start laughing.

I like bird's eye view images on medals and tokens and pick them up when I have a chance. I recently acquired the Forester's medal pictured in the composite image below. I suspect the medal was part of a delegates badge for the event.

It seems we've had this conversation before.

Cool.

I suspect it is an early French jeton based on its general style. But, I am not well versed in English pieces.

Definitely Macedonian Empire, but it doesn't appear to be genuine from its appearance in the photograph. I could be wrong without having it in hand.

Check out http://www.museumsurplus.com/AlexanderCoinsPAGE1.htm and look at the image for item 11046. Not the same condition etc, but you should notice the difference in style between a genuine coin and the one you have.