Follow the lead picture post.

Umm, I haven't seen your collection.

What is that huge "1337" sigline picture all about?

 

Beauty!

Here's another LT.

 

Odd Fellows fraternal token engraved on 1857 quarter.

 

"Died on the Train": 1878 mourning token engraved on 1858 Seated Liberty half



Larger obverse picture
Larger reverse picture

Host coin: 1858 USA Seated Liberty half dollar.
Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered.
Reverse: "July 1st/L. Frank Gray/1878." inscription, with name in Old English lettering, ornamental border around rim.

I had assumed this was a birth/christening gift, but after finalizing the deal with the seller I did some quick web searching, and discovered that an L. Frank Gray in fact died of consumption (tuberculosis) on that day, while traveling on a train. It is a mourning token!

Interestingly, I also found some newspaper obituaries and details on his final resting place online. It doesn't get any better than this. This is one thing that can be amazing about love tokens- you can pin so much more of their history down than you could with a regular coin!

Syracuse Sunday Times, July 7, 1878





How would you have liked to have been riding on a train, only to have one of your fellow passengers cough and die before your very eyes? Can't have been much fun.