That medal was made by the US Mint on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the state of West Virginia. 6,000 were struck in .900 fine silver. As made, this one would have had a proof-like finish (now impaired). 20,000 were made in bronze. 20 were made in platinum. The silver one is listed as D1963-1b in "National Commemorative Medals of the United States Mint" by John Dean.
Thanks, looks like I need to buy another book. I thought it sounded like silver but there are no markings to indicate that.
Sorry, I'm a noob at posting images here - I'll try again https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gaming-Coin/263247360481?ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2648 It's a $25 gaming token, 1 troy ounce .999 silver, well circulated, but I won the auction at $16 + free shipping - silver below melt value is good -
Until we moved from Occupied Austria to Germany in 1955 I didn't know there WAS any other kind of money than MPCs.
The Montgomery piece sparked me to post this, also bought on Sunday (A$3) I like it because the obverse is so obviously taken from the Oregon Trail Memorial half dollar. I also liked the specificity of the time when the token turns into a pumpkin. There probably weren't many Conestoga Wagons roaming Kansas in 1913, though, unless Ezra Meeker was on the prowl.
Re: Wehwalt's tokens These are nice tokens! The top left token is Mengin of Paris or Crayon Mengin, an 1860's French token issued by a street pencil seller and magician. I have a similar one from the same guy on my website.
Thanks for the info! I saw it said Crayon and was unsure of the exact translation. I'll look at yours.
One last item before I leave Sydney Thursday morning, I walked back to the dealer (Wynyard Coins) and bought this, as it's listed in his current catalogue. Not cheap, but not common either. Washington and Fanning Islands are southeast of Hawaii, in what is now Kiribati, but they were leased to a British corporation to grow palms (copra?) and they issued 25c, 50c, and $1 tokens to the workers. This seems to be from about 1942. Eventually, the lease was sold to the Kiribati government after independence. I haven't found much written on them, if anyone is aware of a good article, I'd be appreciative. I think I read an article on it in CW many years ago. I'm driving up from Sydney along the coast and as far as I know the only coin dealer is in Newcastle, and I might have time to visit him or I might not. If not, I probably won't have anything more to "show and tell" until I hit Auckland later in the month. Although you never know. I did come away with small medals here at the Maritime Museum and at the zoo.