Let's see your exonumia!

Very likely, I don't monitor it constantly. I look out for the Mint medals created for Superintendents; I also have ones for Herman Kretz (1895) and Adam M. Joyce (1917). All three (including Bosbyshell) by Morgan.

Here's another I bought (because I liked it) and to illustrate on Wikipedia:



This is the original Children's Founders Roll medal from the Stone Mountain Memorial fundraising, those minded to read the whole ugly story can go here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_Mountain_Memorial_half_dollar

This one was designed by Gutzon Borglum, the original sculptor at Stone Mountain. It was discontinued after they fired him and a new one (rounded) was issued. As Borglum also designed the half dollar, this is the more numismatically interesting because they are both intended to illustrate his design for the memorial.

 

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Wehwalt that Shoichi Yokoi medal is beyond cool! Those guys re-defined "soldier on." I think Shoichi was the soldier portrayed in the Six Million Dollar Man episode: The Last Kamikaze. But there was another soldier they found in the Philippines in 1974-Hiro Onoda. He was an Intelligence officer so he didn't believe anything about the war being over. Japan had to send the officer who issued the last orders to Hiro into the jungles and order him to surrender.

 

I bought it because I couldn't find much to buy there and for me it was the standout item! I think it was 2000 yen.

Here are a couple of Vatican medals. The older one I bought in Rome, the Paul VI one I got on eBay.

This is the 1972 (Paul VI year VIII) medal in the Vatican's long-standing series of annual Papal medals, bronze version (they come in bronze, silver and gold). They also issue them for Sede Vacante. The first Francis medal was hastily withdrawn after they misspelled "JESUS", meant to be "IESUS", as "LESUS". That got an article in Coin World.


The second one seems to be a medal for a meeting between Pope Pius IX (he's the one who became a Prisoner of the Vatican, withdrawing inside when Italian reunification took the Papal States away from him) and Ferdinand II of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (cap. Naples). One side has the colonnade of St. Peter's Square and part of the Basilica, with the other side I think I recognize as the palace in Naples. In the background of one side is I guess a scene from the Roman domains, on the other, you can see Vesuvius puffing away behind Naples!

 

Thanks for the link to the history of the Stone Mountain Memorial Half Dollars. I am a bit familiar with these issues because of my interest in counterstamps. Though I never did any research on the issue, Greg Brunk has a pretty thorough history of these pieces in his reference "Merchant and Privately Countermarked Coins" (2003). Interestingly, he notes the existence of the "GA / 27" counterstamps on a few of the Children's Founders Roll medals which normally appear on the coins themselves (in addition to other state/number combinations of course). apparently, the "GA / 27" combination is the only one known on these medals. Whether they appear on the original Borglum design or the newer version isn't disclosed.

Bruce

 

Thanks for the ref, no doubt the ANA library has a copy and I can arrange to have it sent.

Here's a little bit of a change of pace. I bought this in 1990 in Germany, I think (pre-Euro). The currencies of the three Central European nations with large German populations.

 

And one more. It's a merchant's coin counting tray, similar ones are still commonly used in Europe to make change from. My guess is circa 1920. The coins were added after I purchased the box (Netherlands, by the way). I bought it at the Vrijmarkt they have on Queen's Day (now King's Day, I guess)

 

A German medal about half dollar sized, and in brass, commemorating the hyperinflation (and issued once it was safely over). I bought it in Germany, I think it was about three euros.

 

That's really an interesting token Wehwalt. It seems an odd thing to commerorate something so destructive. They were desperate times for sure but probably best forgotten. The "mood" of the token surely fits the times though. Do you know exactly when these were issued?

Bruce

 

It would be interesting to know what the text says. Maybe it was a propagander medal?

 

Of the German people Leindensweg that's all that would come up!

On Nov 1 1923 these were the cost
1 pound bread
3 billion
1 pound meat
36 billion
1 glass of beer
4 billion

Got ta love google translate

 

It was in a dealer "junk box" in the Strasse de 17 Juni flea market they have on Saturdays in Berlin … "Leidensweg" seems to mean "path of suffering", meaning the text translates to "The German people's path of suffering." I don't know a great deal about the token, the monogram (I think) of paired Ms on the "obverse" (people side) may be a hint.

 

Toilet lock mechanism for pre-decimal British penny. No key, alas.

The weights are used because in Britain, coins and banknotes are usually weighed, rather than counted (these days, I think they count them, but this is the traditional way). The Westminster Bank one is the only one I have with the name of the specific bank on it, as most tend to be generic.

 

The paired Ms may be the initials of the designer Wehwalt. They don't bring anyone to mind, at least not to me.

Bruce

 

These are some really cool images Wehwalt. Do you also collect mechanical banks?

 

No, though I have a good collection of savings banks where the bank retains the key, including a current one from the PostBank in Greece.

Thanks for the praise, I'll post some more over the next few days unless people get bored. I've never "showed off" this stuff before, except a few I've uploaded to Wikipedia, so am enjoying myself.


Sovereign scale, to detect fake or underweight coins, will take either a sovereign or half sovereign.

 

Herman Kretz wasn't one of the well-known Mint Superintendents. This is a three-inch medal, by Morgan, whose name appears near the rim of the reverse about five o'clock.

 

Used obverse die for a Washington quarter, with the face melted except for the small amount of lettering at eight o'clock. (I turned it so it would show up better)


Bought in an antique store in Omaha. I carried it 20 feet into the back seat of my car. It then drove 1,198.2 miles, and then I carried it 20 feet into my house!

 

A farebox, now that's definitely an original idea. I always thought it would be cool to own one of the early teletypes machines that coin dealers talked to each other with in the 60's.

 

You have a unique collection of unusual items Wehwalt. I enjoy seeing them as much as you enjoy showing them. Keep 'em comin'

Bruce

 

Here's a couple more tokens from my newly rediscovered "hoard". The "J.L.& B." is probably a work tally of some sort or possibly a picker check, but couldn't find anything on the internet. I still like the look of it and wonder what its purpose was in the day.

The "Edwards Bros." piece is obviously a trade token worth 25c to the bearer. This type of token is notoriously hard to research because most of these business' were small, local enterprises. Unless you have access to local records of some sort (newspapers, or directories) the chance of finding any information on them is slim. I came up blank on this one. I bought it at the WESPENEX show in White Plains, NY in November, 2002 from Steve Ellsworth.

Bruce