Could be any number of answers to that question. Depends on how you want to interepret shell. There was a time and place when sea shells were used as money. Or it could be interpretted to mean tokens used to purchase shells. Or it could be referring to the tokens put out by Shell Oil Company back in the '60s. Take your pick.
Shell OIL. What are they? 60's I saw at the dealer one 1909 & 1939 AU Shell Tokens, what were they used for?were they commemorative?
I remember in the 60's Shell Oil put out tokens of the 50 states and their capitals , they looked like brass , but were brass plated steel . rzage
I have a collection of tokens put out by shell oil with all the presidents...kind of a precursor to the presidential dollars...and about as cheap
The answers given above are certainly possibilities, but that is not what came to my mind when I read your question. I may be way out of the ball park, especially in light of the years you mentioned, but I will describe another possibility. From Rulau's Standard Catalog: Shell Store Cards, or Embossed Store Cards were made by a process quite unlike striking from dies or casting from molds. The design is pressed outward on thin metal sheets. The result is a beautiful, yet fragile product. In the U.S.A., in 1867-1876 embossed or shell cards were a brief phenomenon, and almost all of them were imitations of $20 gold pieces or Liberty Seated dollars. Some of the cards used two shells joined at the edge, but the better part of them used a single shell filled with sturdy cardboard on which an advertisement was printed. A few used mirrors as reverses. None of these cards are common, except perhaps those of Udolpho Wolfe of New York or Howe Scales of Vermont. The commonest pieces retail at $100 and up. Most are rare, many are unique. Perfect uncirculated specimens with original (golden) gilding or silver-gilt intact command extraordinary prices on today's market. Valuations for the rarer ones can range from $1500 to $5000. There was a fairly competent catalog which appeared in the TAMS Journal in 1961-1962, originally authored by Rulau and Ralph Mitchell. Shell type tokens have also been made since the time frame that Rulau mentions, but the more modern ones are not as valuable. A few examples are currently offered on ebay if interested in viewing any. http://desc.shop.ebay.com/items/Exo...rksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em282?_trksid=p3286.c0.m282
No it's not a shellcard. David thanks for the share, here is the one I saw,I just bought it,I was thinking it's 100 years old! now I know that it was released in 70's it's Louis Bleriot 1909
I'm glad this subject came up cwtokenman. Most collectors think of the Shell Oil Company Presidents game that started in 1969 but even before that there were shell tokens. They don't weigh much at all because of the way they are made. This Greetings cent is a perfect example of a shell coin and how some were made. It just sits on top of the coin as you can see. The second example is from WWII, it's a brothel token, a real one! Think of two of those Greetings stuck together to make one coin, that's a shell token. My point is a Shell coin was completely different than the games Shell Oil Company used to make. The older guys on this forum will know exactly what I'm talking about if they can remember the old days.
