Repost: The Vesta McCurry saga (WW1 trench art on a 1918 French coin)

I originally posted the story of this piece in 2018.

But since the original narrative was posted live, as the facts were being discovered, it’s a bit scattered. Since the coin came up again in a recent conversation on another site, I thought I’d dust off some of these pics and repost it here, in a shorter and easier-to-read summary, for those who didn’t see the original post.

Here is a French 2-franc piece from 1918.



It was made into a World War I “trench art” love token in France, acquired by Howard G. Pearman, a sergeant with Company F of the US 21st Infantry, 3rd Division, and engraved for his sweetheart back home, Miss Vesta McCurry of Hartwell, Georgia.



Here is Vesta, circa 1918. Howard returned home safely and they married on Christmas Day of 1919.



Here are Howard and Vesta, later in life. He died in 1958. She lived until 1973.



Here is Howard and Vesta’s granddaughter Nancy, to whom I returned the coin in 2019, a century after her grandparents’ wedding.



It was really exciting to research that piece, track down its history, and send it home to the family. It’s rare to own an old coin and discover so much about the actual everyday people in its history.

 

I had some internet research assistance from other kind folks who also got caught up in the story as it evolved and the facts started to emerge. Tracking down Vesta’s granddaughter Nancy was an exciting conclusion.

 

I took some time and wrote this up as an article for The Numismatist, but as far as I know, they never ran the submission.

 

The whole saga was really fun. In some ways kind of like my old metal detecting outings. Except it was the secrets of the coin rather than the coin itself that got unearthed.

Of course I had Vesta McCurry’s first and last names plus her hometown on there to start from. That made researching this one easier. It was like a head start.