Pawing thru misc silver coinage yesterday, hoping to find some plain stuff to make a quick buck on when the white metal again gets to $30...found this oddity. The only thing Google has on those initials is a Christian radio station somewhere in the southeastern US. Have any of you any wisdom about what they might signify? Please note that there are only periods after the first 3 letters. Each of those letters appear to have been individually struck. All comments welcome, of course...and thanks! wlw
This is a bit of a stretch, but the letters are a bit similar to a Masonic code phrase. "HTWSSTKS" allegedly stands for: "Hiram, Tyrian, Widow’s Son, Sent to King Solomon." I don't know that there's any relation, but they have a lot of letters in common, so I wonder if it might be some other Masonic shorthand.
An excellent conjecture...and there is an elder Mason of my acquaintance who will be happy to advise on it! Thank you!
Just someone's initials I'm sure. It wasn't unusual to omit the period from the last initial as it represented a surname. There are thousands of initials-only counterstamps which are nearly impossible to identify for obvious reasons. This is the reason that Brunk rarely listed them in his reference. Struck on a nice coin though. Thanks for posting it. Bruce
Thanks, Bruce...that makes perfect sense! I'll mentally append those initials with a catchy string of 19th C male names...and drop it back into the obscurity from whence it emerged. There are, I'm sure you'll agree, more pressing matters upon which to squander what limited time remains. wlw
With only initials your chances of attributing one is next to impossible. If yoy have initials (first and middle name) and a last name spelled out at least you have something to go on. Nearly 100% of counterstamps in the 1800s used initials in place of first and middle names, so if you have a J. Brown for instance you would start with the most common first names of the time starting with a J. In those days it would be either John, Jacob or James. Initials G.W. were often George Washington, B. F. Benjamin Franklin, etc. Many parents named their children after founding fathers or other famous people. It's fun researching this way but very time consuming. Bruce
Obviously, good sir, you have devoted considerable effort, over long time, to your niche interest. Erudite is a fitting word, here. This thing is yours for melt $, and I'll ship free if you want it. Thanks, Bruce...wlw
