Shell's Mr. President Coin Game question

Hi, I was given an old cigar box full of old/new coins. 18 (+ duplicates) are from the Shell's Mr. President Coin Game. Unfortunately I'm not sure if they are aluminum or not. I have one (Chester A. Arthur) that says instant winner on back. But not sure what to do with them. I also have aluminum 76 Union Seventy-sixth Anniversary tokens and one Diamond Anniversary token. My Grandfather used to own a Service Station. Anyway I have these tokens, not sure what to do with them. If you have any suggestions cool, if not thank you for listening anyway.

 

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There aren't many collectors so don't expect a windfall. The instant winners aren't seen often. I'm not sure what the others are.

 

Thanks for your reply. If you hear anything more, send a text. Otherwise I may make a book for my son, add it to the other old coins my dad has picked up over the years. Thanks. (=

 

The brass coins were cast at the Muller Brass plant in Port Huron, MI. I had a friend two doors down whose father worked there. He brought home coffee cans full of the coins for his kids to play with. I had a bag full. Can't remember what happend to them. My father was a coin freak and got a presidental set from another neighbor, two door the other way, that worked at a Shell station. The coins I got from my friend were from the state series. I had a bunch of the aluminum ones but can't recall what happened to those either. I don't know where the aluminum ones were made. The could have been made in Port Huron too.

 

Interesting.

I had assumed they were all made in (Yeadon) Franklin, PA. The presidential bronze sets and the antique car coin series sets were postmarked from there.

 

Do you think it's possible that Muller Brass merely produced the bronze strip or punched the planchets that were struck in Yeadon? Perhaps finished "coins" were shipped to Muller Brass as a professional curtesy or the equivalent. I know at one time Michigan exported copper but I doubt there's much copper mining left.

The aluminum tokens used to just be everywhere but over the years they are seen less and less often. Significant quantities must still exist since the original mintages were huge. Assembling sets of these is far more difficult than most people imagine because there are few to check and numerous duplicates and extremely common ones. It's about as much fun as you can have for a few dollars (if you're a collector). I have as much money in the holders and albums as the tokens and have a fairly "advanced" collection. I just mean I have all the easy ones. I just recently spent $30 for a few hundred aluminum states coins in pristine condition which is the most I've ever spent.

 

I have a bunch of the Shell tokens in "uncirculated" condition, along with some Alcoa work-related tokens. In the 1960's, my father-in-law worked at the Alcoa Aluminum Plant in the Quad Cities. I assumed they were made there and that is why he had them. It is only an assumption.

 

According to this website, these were done elsewhere: http://www.coins-n-medals.com/Exhibits/ShellGames/ShellCoinGames.html

 

I wonder if the memories of these promotions are what doomed the acceptance of the presidential dollars.

I paid someone for a ride with three of them once and he asked me if they were "play money".

 

Thanks for the link and posts.

Can you post any pictures of the alcoa tokens?

 

Probably not until next weekend- I'm traveling some this week. I will start a new thread when I have a chance to get to it.

 

@cladking Posted pics in the

Let's see your exonumia! thread.

 

These tokens remind us of the time when oil companies respected their customers and would give things away like steak knives, glass ware, plates , etc. And many gas stations would also give out Blue Chip and S&H Green stamps that were redeemable for gifts. I remember my mother had a set of steak knives and other stuff from our local gas station.

That era is long gone. Oil companies now have zero respect for their customers and it's been pure greed from them ever since.

 

That generosity is replaced by paying taxes to the man!

 

I collect the 'Instant Winner' tokens from the various oil company promotions back in the 1960/1970s. The Shell Oil Chester Arthur 'Instant Winner' token won a prize of $1.00. I'm always looking on the auctions sites to try to add these tokens to my collection. Let me know if you see one.

 

Returning to this thread reminds me that I still have a Humble Oil Company stamp folder around here somewhere. Those were fun times to collect something for free.

 

Yes, there are minor Instant Winner tokens and 'minor key' tokens floating around. I have several minor Instant Winner tokens from several of the oil company promotions. For Shell's Mr. President Coin Game, there are five 'major key' tokens: Harding, Madison, Van Buren, Tyler and Buchanan. I have never seen one offered for sale, or heard of anyone possessing one of these tokens. Does anyone out there know what the mintage of these five were? Does Krause's Franklin Mint catalogue shed any light?

 

I've seen the listings in the FM catalog but remember no details.

Usually in games like this the winners are very tightly controlled and the promoter knows where they are. The chances of one escaping into the wild by a customer who didn't know it was valuable is real but in such a case there is little chance the token survived long.

My guess is that all these big winners were destroyed as they were returned to the company.

 

OK, I found the catalog. It lists 39 issues including the Instant Winners. There's no real information here. It lists each of the regular issues at 35c and the IW's at 50c.

The most curious one is #32 that suggests it is the common reverse paired with a shell emblem obverse.