Let's see your exonumia!

Nice to hear that you have it in your collection, Jeff. If you have a pic of the other one, I'd like to see it.

I have a "J YOUS" stamp in my collection too, but I've always stayed away from the "RF" issue because of Brunk's assertion that they were fake. He had a good argument as to why he thought so, so I never pursued further investigation. If someone has something new on it, I'd like to see it. Maybe ExoMan will jump in on the conservation. He's an avid collector of silversmith counterstamps and is very knowledgeable about them.

Bruce

 

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Calling @ExoMan !

 

My Conrad Braun made 1982 gold 1/2 oz. US Gold Corp

 

My error. 1980 US Gold Corp. Better pics

 

The RF was essentially "free" so to speak, so I am not too concerned about it's origin, but I'd love to see any headway made on it's identity.

I stumbled on an ebay "buy it now" listing for three counterstamped large cents with great photos but no text description of the counterstamps, so anyone searching for the specific counterstamps by name never would have found them.

They were $50 delivered for the J. YOUS, the questionable RF, and what appears to be a prepared punch H.A.H (no idea on origin). I figured it was reasonably priced entertainment. I should have them in a few days and will post photos.

 

You did good for $50, Jeff. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.

Here's a pic of my J. YOUS stamp. For those who don't know, Joshua Yous was a gunsmith in Greencastle, PA c1850s.

Bruce

 

Arrived today now here are my images.

 

Sorry, fellas, for my absence. Got hung up in a phone booth, I did .... Really, Bruce sent me a heads-up on this thread.

Over the years, I've attributed many a silversmith counterstamp; these, being hallmarks or their "retail" marks. To date, I've not been able to match the RF counterstamp to that of any known silversmith hallmark. Plentiful as these RF c/s's are, I suspect that, if a match were to be made, knowledge would have surfaced by now. Collectors of early silver are quite avid and studious. In general, the surviving coin c/s's of most silversmiths tend to be quite few in number. In stark contrast, these RF c/s's are most plentiful. To my mind, the large population suggests that they had some utilitarian use, but what? A two-letter hallmark doesn't much serve as an advertisement. I concur with Brunk that these date to the 1840's. The letters are stylized or fancy, suited to that era, it seems. I don't regard these c/s's as "fake" pieces, early and plentiful as they are.

Here are a few pics of the RF c/s on an 1802 cent; this, for those unfamiliar with same ....

 

Do you have this book marked http://www.925-1000.com/
This project has been 15 years in the making and now documents over 12,000 silver marks on 1,200+ pages and subpages. It is regularly updated as we find and photograph new examples of silver hallmarks and makers' marks.

 

I have visited this website on many occasions. I've not seen a book though.

It's an easy leap to assume that the RF marks are those of a silversmith. He/she may have been a watchmaker or some other fine craftsmen. While watchmakers worked with silver, many did not create silverware. Then too, many silversmiths have yet to be discovered and/or listed.

Here's a Philadelphia silversmith's mark that I discovered some months ago. George K. Wise worked at various addresses there, between 1842-63. He partnered with Robert Dunlevy from 1847-50. This mark was unknown to the lady who "wrote the book" on Philly silversmiths. I reported this find, and it may well be reported in the next edition.

 

I've only seen the Cleveland Half counerstamps of '41 & '71. Best coin club logo around and a beautiful medal I would love to have.

 

I wonder if the hole was added after the counterstamp and why it's centered, Bill. It doesn't matter a whole lot, I suppose...just curious. It shows a little distress, so must have been attached to something for a short while at least.

That's a nice clear stamp on a decent Half Cent. Can you make out anything in the square pinch at S11?

Bruce

 

Love your medal, Finn. It is one of the nicest logos I've seen too. While I don't have a medal from WR, I have 4 different counterstamped examples. Greg Brunk actually lists their counterstamps in his reference.

Bruce

 

I would love to pick up a '41 C/S half, but they don't come up for sale often.

 

So I buy these 34 mm slabs w/ black insert to use, well as things happen I didn't need them but they were shipped.
Well I remembered that I had some tokens that happen to be 34 mm.
Sorry I scanned them, but not to bad ...that's right I didn't feel like doing the one at a time

 

Love that Honest John!

 

@Jwt708 I had the pleasure to fire a few of those long ago.

 

That's the one included in a lot I picked up on eBay (not delivered yet).

I found an old thread on another site (hope it's Ok to post here):
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/918617/what-are-your-thought-on-these-c-bust-50cers
It states:
The counterstamps used above I and others have matched to an American Silversmith who advertised in Boston Mass. in the Boston Patriot from 1796 to 1806 at 42 Cornhill St named Rufus Farnam (1769 or1771 to 1833+) and whose counterstamp matches this one exactly. He was Born in Norwich Conn., and served as apprentice with his brother Henry to Joseph Carpenter also in Norwich Conn around 1785 and together they purchased Carpenter's shop in 1807. Rufus and Henry worked together from 1800-1816. He advertised in Boston from approx. 1821 until 1833 under the firm of Farnam & Ward along with Henry Farnam & Richard Ward. After which Rufus worked in Hanover New Hampshire until when he died on 9/24/1863 in Mass. The silversmith marks known for just Rufus Farnam were: R. Farnam in rectangle flanked by incised stars; R. Farnam in serrated rectangle; and RF in clipped rectangle.

There is extensive discussion/speculation after that.

So far I have not found a photo of an example of an RF marked piece of silverware that is attributed to him.