Argonaut Hotel, San Francisco

[bill]

 

29.5mm, Aluminum

 

An interesting early token from San Francisco's Argonaut Hotel. I found the value and the price list on the reverse of interest. I believe this is a rare token, even if it is rather plain, relying on standard machine lettering. I would welcome more information. The Argonaut continues in operation overlooking Fisherman's Wharf to this day.

[thedeadpoint]

 

29.5mm, Aluminum

 

An interesting early token from San Francisco's Argonaut Hotel. I found the value and the price list on the reverse of interest. I believe this is a rare token, even if it is rather plain, relying on standard machine lettering. I would welcome more information. The Argonaut continues in operation overlooking Fisherman's Wharf to this day.

 

First, what year do you think it was made?

 

Second, the "corners" of the octagon seem "rounded" in the image. Are the corners raised above the circular field? or are they rounded below the field?

[bill]

It probably dates to 1900 or 1910, somewhere in that range.

 

The corners are raised (i.e. the fields are lower than the edges), think of a round die striking an octagonal planchet.

[thedeadpoint]

It probably dates to 1900 or 1910, somewhere in that range.

 

The corners are raised (i.e. the fields are lower than the edges), think of a round die striking an octagonal planchet.

 

Thanks for the answers! Great token!

[constanius]

 

The Argonaut continues in operation overlooking Fisherman's Wharf to this day.

 

I bet their prices have gone up a fair bit, maybe they will still accept the tokens and you can have half a pint of beer for your token. Second thoughts.... hang onto it, it is worth more than a beer.

 

The pricing info is part of social history.

[Scottishmoney]

I have to wonder that the piece dates to 1907 when the hotel was built? It is in nice shape, I have to wonder that it was never circulated but saved by someone. I have some aluminium tokens from Plymouth in Amador county from that era and they are miserable.

[bill]

I have to wonder that the piece dates to 1907 when the hotel was built? It is in nice shape, I have to wonder that it was never circulated but saved by someone. I have some aluminium tokens from Plymouth in Amador county from that era and they are miserable.

 

I don't know whether there was an earlier Argonaut Hotel or not. The earliest ads I can find are around 1909 and dinner was $1 including wine. That would seem to be in line with the prices on the token. I have no idea about the history of the specific token except that it seemed to be part of a larger specialized California collection. Early aluminum tokens should be rough and worn if they saw much use, but pristine examples do survive. Sometimes, nice examples come from a hoard that survived. I remember looking through the dirty windows of an old retail store in small town in NE California (Fort Bidwell) in the middle of nowhere. The store had been closed for 60 years and stock still sat on the shelves. The building had recently been purchased by a movie business related company. They wanted the historic dry goods stock. I could only imagine what else might be in the old cash register and in drawers behind the counter.

[Scottishmoney]

The Argonaut Hotel building was built in 1907 according to their website. Frankly knowing what I know about that part of San Francisco, near the Marina District, I would not dare stay in a place that old with masonry construction - think earthquake and liquifaction there near the Marina District, most of which is built on fill. If the quake wouldn't take the building down, the fires from all the broken gas mains would.

 

I have several old town tokens from the gold country, where Argonaut as a name would be more familiar, my Great Grandfather worked in the Argonaut mine in Jackson until the 1922 mine disaster, then my Great Grandmother made him quit and take a job with Standard Oil in SF.

[Scottishmoney]

Kind of interesting looking at their website:

 

Argonaut Hotel

 

I remember that building is a bit better looking and kept up than many other buildings around it, there were little boutique shops down stairs and an interesting courtyard from what I remember of it.

 

Oh yes, I know that part of SF.

[bill]

The current location of the Argonaut Hotel is in a building built in 1907, but in 1909 the hotel was in the Society of California Pioneers' Building on Fourth St. near Market. 400 rooms and baths. That would be near the old San Francisco Mint Building in the heart of downtown as opposed to the Fisherman's Wharf area where it is currently located. The downtown area would have been rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and the Society of Pioneers acquisition of the hotel, hence my speculation that it might have existed prior to the earthquake. Sunday dinner including wine was $1.00. I think the best clue to the date is the 2 1/2 cent value and beer for a nickel. The standard letter punches suggest a later date as opposed to an earlier date in my opinion. Still worth some more research.

[Scottishmoney]

The current location of the Argonaut Hotel is in a building built in 1907, but in 1909 the hotel was in the Society of California Pioneers' Building on Fourth St. near Market. 400 rooms and baths. That would be near the old San Francisco Mint Building in the heart of downtown as opposed to the Fisherman's Wharf area where it is currently located. The downtown area would have been rebuilt after the 1906 earthquake and the Society of Pioneers acquisition of the hotel, hence my speculation that it might have existed prior to the earthquake. Sunday dinner including wine was $1.00. I think the best clue to the date is the 2 1/2 cent value and beer for a nickel. The standard letter punches suggest a later date as opposed to an earlier date in my opinion. Still worth some more research.

 

I wonder that the current Argonaut Hotel has nothing really to do with the 1909 hotel, other than sharing a name? Perhaps if you are in SF you can check city directories from that time. I check city directories for the little town I live in to see who token issuers were, and this gives me a date range for tokens - most of mine were issued in the 1895-1920 era because that is when this area was at it's heyday - logging. In fact there were twice as many people living in my county in 1900 as there are now.

 

I really enjoy your postings of the California exonumia, I grew up there and lived there until I was an adult then left and only go back for occasional visits. So I am pretty familiar with much of the stuff from that region.

[bill]

I can finally close the loop on this discussion. The Argonaut Hotel that issued this token opened in 1909 on the site of the former headquarters of the Society of California Pioneers. Their building was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire and they rebuilt the Argonaut on the same site. It was used for fraternal meetings, conventions, and a destination hotel for many years before being bought and demolished in 1936 to build a bus and train terminal for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. The train station itself was across the bay in Richmond and passengers were bused between Richmond and the terminal on 4th St.