Let's see your exonumia!

Worthy of further study. I'm skeptical of Alaska, but I do think it's WWI era. I need to get some sleep...

 

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Hehhe. It's been everywhere then North, South, East and West.

 

I bought a fair number of medals in Saint Petersburg, the Russians are big on medals Many tourist attractions had vending machines that dispensed medals in exchange (usually) for 100 rubles, less than two bucks. The two top left and top center and the one at the lower right are from that, and are 35mm for scale. The Savior on the Spilled Blood bimetallic medal was 50 rubles, but I had to buy two as I didn't have change. That church (now a museum) and Saint Isaac's Cathedral (both very ornate churches now museums) sell their own for 50 rubles via machine and the other's for 100 rubles at the souvenir counter. The one with the sea life is from an aquarium in Saint Petersburg.

The Russians seem big on medals even today. You will note the medal with the map of Crimea on one side and Putin on the other (I wound up with four Putin medals), all the same size. The packet with two coins I got at a kiosk, it cost way more than face value (those are 10 ruble coins, maybe 20 cents, and the envelope was five bucks). They are to commemorate Crimea and Sebastopol becoming part of Russia. The monument (also on the coin) is at Sebastopol, the monument to the scuttled ships (to block the harbor during the Crimean war), it is fairly emblematic of the city and also evokes its Russian past).

 

Thankyou for posting your medals. That's what we need here, medals sold in vending machines!

 

I'll post more later. I also have a photo of one of the vending machines, I attach it (it is in the Summer Garden in Saint Petersburg and dispenses medals with the Russian Museum logo on one side). I agree with you! But France and Russia seem the leaders in that department.

 

Here are some more Russian ones, all ones I got from souvenir stands outside various tourist attractions in Saint Petersburg. The reverse of the 1 Kopek piece says something like (I am told) "From kopeks come rubles" which I gather is their Ben Franklin like advice for thrift (forgive any mistranslation). You'll note the two "high values", one with Putin on the reverse again. The "meal" or "beer" token, you flip for to decide how to spend your rubles. The Russians seem to like that sort of token, I also bought ones that said "yes" or "no" and "love" or "no love" (all in Russian, though oddly in Western characters)

The replica gold coin was one of two I bought (the other has Catherine the Great). There was no pretense that this was anything other than fake and I think the price was 150 rubles for each (about $3)

I don't think these items are marketed much to Western tourists. I did two tours and spent some time on my own. The cruise terminal, which had a bunch of souvenir stands, had no medals and only a few sets of old USSR coins. One of the tourist shops where we were taken had some (in cards, honoring, say, Gagarin or Kalashnikov, I posted one to this thread a year ago), one did not. You really had to look at each individual souvenir stand outside the tourist attractions like the Spilled Blood or the Hermitage. I also saw some at kiosks that appeared to be for local people.

There were, by the way, Putin T shirts, coffee mugs, busts, matryoshka dolls, and post cards, that I saw. Both tour guides were asked about politics on the bus ride back to the ship and expressed very strong support for Putin. (one was very nostalgic for Soviet days, and said so). The Crimea coins and medals were the only items I saw that mentioned that in particular. I saw what I wanted to see (I was there in 1986 and 2014), spent enjoyable time scrounging for items for my collection, and had no troubles.

 

Cool Russian tokens! The food or beer is my favorite, though I wouldn't need to flip it to decide...

 

This I bought from a coin dealer in Copenhagen who had a few medals. It is about 3 inches in diameter, and except for a rim ding or two, seems in exceptional shape (the fields are mirrored). I bought it (about $25) because I figure you can't go wrong with the Columbian Exposition. It looks better than it photographs, I have trouble photographing shiny objects.

 

Very nice, bqcoins! I've always liked this type of exonumia, but don't have any examples in my collection...yet.

Bruce

 

Yes they did do it with style even for free tickets!

 

Greeting card with peace medallion by the Franklin Mint.

 

Way to keep the thread going!

This weekend Circus...I get my latest exonumia here. More trade tokens, a C-130 medal, and I'll resurrect my Challeng Coin thread with my latest one.

 

Wonderful pick up.

 

Yep the penny swap turned out to be a pile and a half of interesting tokens, medals and other items exonumia related, that will be forth coming and I haven't even gotten around to photo the last small flat rate box!

 

Love that Freedom 7 medal. There was nothing cooler than watching Alan Shepard's flight with my father. Except maybe watching John Glenn's flight the next year.

BTW @Jwt708 John Glenn went TDY to the USAF during the Korean war. The AirForce painted "Mig Mad Marine" on the side of his Sabre jet.

 

That's awesome! When I was there we had a display Sabre parked right by where we did our outside maintenance. It was l I keep Osan had a collection of display aircraft that they put on the far side of the flightline where I worked and no one saw them but us.