Let's see your exonumia!

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Reading Coin Club/Berks County Pogada. Antiqued bronze, M/A, 30mm, 16.8grams.

The Pogada was built in 1908 by William Whitman as a hotel. It later failed when Whitman was unable to obtain a liquor license. He got the idea from a post card sent to him by Charles Matz. Whitman liked the Pagoda on the postcard so much, he hired Matz and his father to replicate it at a cost (1908) of 50k.

 

I've been to the Pagoda it's a neat place to visit.
http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10657

 

Cool themes are what I like about Pa. coin club medals/tokens. Plus many of them are antiqued.

 

BTW, there is a Reading Coin Club in Berkshire, England.

 

For years I have been using this as a prop in my coin display cases. I purchased this at Dulles Airport while waiting for a delayed flight. It is made very well (Brass) and is fairly large. (59mm). I'll usually put a small easel with a coin on it. But I think it has matured into it's own and will now be included in my Exonumia Collection.

 

That's a nice hefty medal Sam at 59mm. Beautiful workmanship, condition and color. You're going to need something pretty impressive to replace it. Do you know if it's a government issue or is it privately minted?

Bruce

 

I think it was privately struck. I have the box somewhere with the paperwork. The kiosk that was selling these souvenirs, had all nice quality merchandise. They also had some current silver mint sets. That's what started me looking through his display cases.

A quick update: My receipt says it was purchased at Reagan National Airport, not Dulles. (I use both when traveling into the D.C. area and thought wrong.) The box didn't have any manufacturing information on it. However, the kiosk name was Capital Image, on the same level departing passengers use when coming into the building. If you are ever in that airport, and have time, take a look.

 

This wraps up the last bulk buy of Mardi Gras Tokens

 

Thanks for the info Sam. I have been to Reagan before but it's been some time. I'll keep it in mind and check it out next time.

Bruce

 

Here's an interesting counterstamp I picked up on eBay last week. Since it had a surname and address as part of the stamp - although no city - I thought I might be able to attribute it. Keeping in mind that a majority of counterstamps from this period were issued from large east coast cities, I decided to check city directories and see if I could find a merchant named Carleton that worked at this address. I've done this before and it usually doesn't pan out, but this time it did.

I checked listings in New York, Brooklyn, Rochester and Buffalo, NY from 1845 to 1865 but found nothing. Moving on to Boston I finally came across this listing in 1862 -- "Carleton, Amos D. / Silver & Electroplater / 4 Washington St." If Carleton ran a grocery store or was a doctor or laborer or some such I would have second thoughts about him being the issuer. The size and style of this logotype stamp though is perfect for a silver plater, so I have no doubt this was issued by him.

Originally, Carleton was a partner in the silverplating firm of Vialle & Carleton from 1854 until 1858 at 14 Marshall St. The partnership dissolved in July, 1859 after the death of David Vialle. Carleton continued on alone in the business, by then at 4 Washington St. In 1864 he moved next door to 6 Washington and in 1873 to 21 Brattle. He retired from business in 1908 and passed away in February, 1911. Since the only years he practiced at 4 Washington St were 1859 to 1863, the coin must have been stamped during that period.

The pictures aren't the best so in case you can't read the logo it says "Carleton / 4 Wash. St" Thanks for looking.

Bruce

 

Good work Bruce!

 

Is there a reason it was stamped three times? Could he have encountered this coin three times from circulation? Perhaps brought back to his merchant location in trade? I would think the banks might pull them if the coin gets defaced too much. I don't have any counter stamps in my collection, so I'm not familar with them other than as a form of advertising. The ones I remember had just a single stamp.

 

Perhaps testing a stamp that was intended for silverware? It would be interesting to find some of Carleton's silverware to see if the same stamp was used on it.

 

I have no idea who took the time to make these pieces which resemble US silver dollar patterns.

 

I'm not sure this one was even meant to be an advertisement Sam. More likely he wanted to see how his stamp struck-up and applied it to the coin four times -one on the obverse also. One or two of them are poor strikes so he did a couple more to get a better feel of how much pressure he'd need to use to get a good impression on his plate. Generally, counterstamps meant to advertise were struck on heavily worn circulating coins so that the stamp wouldn't get "lost" in the coin's design.

There wasn't any law in those days against mutilating coins in the U.S., unlike in some European countries. The French, English and I think the Italians forbade the practice, so to get around the prohibition, merchants would stamp coins from other countries that circulated freely in theirs. Most of these laws were passed in the later part of the 19th century. Nearly all of the "Pear's Soap" counterstamps -tens of thousands of them-were struck on French coins even though Pear's Soap was an English company. Likewise, a large number of French companies advertised on English coins such as "Epicerie Moderne" and "Le Picotin Aperitif".

Bruce

 

It would be interesting JA, but Carleton, although in business for nearly sixty years, was apparently a small player in his field. I found no listings for him in any silversmith, silverplater, or jeweler references, so I never saw a backstamp of his documented.

Bruce

 

They look like something Daniel Carr might have done Yarm. Beautiful and well executed. Gorgeous pieces...and clearly marked "copy"

Bruce

 

BRandM,

You are now my go-to guy for counterstamp information. :>)

 

I

No problem Sam...any time.

Bruce