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Those are amazing pieces. My Lincoln tokens are primary his campaign tokens and civil war patriotic tokens. Thank you for sharing.

 

I totally agree!

 

GM Rotary Press coin, ~1965.

 

1790's Pidcocks Exhibition
Elephant & Two Headed Cow
Conder Token - Farthing





Pidcock's menagerie was at Exeter Exchange on the Strand in London.
Gilbert Pidcock had worked in travelling shows since he was a young man, and in 1795 took sole ownership of the London-based menagerie which bore his name that was situated in the Strand in a building called the Exeter Change.



One of the grand sights of the metropolis, people flocked to see the exotic animals and birds on show. The animals were kept in small cages which provided an extremely cruel life for his indoor zoo.
He exhibited exotic animals since 1793, including a kangaroo, elephant, rhinoceros and cockatoos. The token here showing an elephant and a two-headed cow.



The two-headed heifer was a live exhibit and the very remarkable creature had two heads, four horns, four ears, four nostrils, through each of which it breathed.
It had two hearts. One of the heads, together with the horns, represented that of a bull, and the other of a cow. The height of the animal was thirteen hands, and each horn measured twenty-five inches long.

On Pidcock’s death in about 1810, the menagerie passed to Stephani Polito and on his death in 1814, one of his employees, Edward Cross, took over the menagerie.

An elephant, though not the one shown on this farthing, was named Chunee and was the star attraction of the menagerie. After arriving in England in 1809, he performed on stage, delighting audiences “for forty successive nights at the Theatre Royal, Covent-Garden” and was often paraded in the street outside the menagerie. But he was not a happy elephant and on February 26th 1826, he went out of control and killed one of his keepers in a fit of bad temper and was subsequently put down for safety reasons.



After the death of Chunee, the popularity of the menagerie rapidly declined. Cross started a new menagerie at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, and around 1829 the Exeter ‘Change was demolished.

 

1972 Little Big Horn
Wittnauer Longines Symphonette 925 Medal
Battle of the Little Bighorn
June 25 1876




Initially, General George Armstrong Custer had 208 officers and men under his command, with an additional 142 under Reno, just over 100 under Benteen, 50 soldiers with Captain McDougall's rearguard, and 84 soldiers under 1st Lieutenant Edward Gustave Mathey with the pack train.

The Lakota-Cheyenne coalition may have fielded well over 1,800 warriors, some estimates as high as 3,500.

As the troopers were cut down, the native warriors stripped the dead of their firearms and ammunition, with the result that the return fire from the cavalry steadily decreased, while the fire from the Indians constantly increased. The surviving troopers apparently shot their remaining horses to use as breastworks for a final stand on the knoll at the north end of the ridge.
The warriors closed in for the final attack and killed every man in Custer's command. As a result, the Battle of the Little Bighorn has come to be popularly known as "Custer's Last Stand".

"Hurrah boys, we've got them! We'll finish them up and then go home to our station."
—Famous words reportedly said by General Custer shortly before being killed.

My 1952 No 37 Topps LOOK n SEE Custer card from my complete set



1974 Custer's Last Stand
Danbury Mint Sterling Silver Medal
"Custer's Last Stand"






Blame for the disaster at Little Bighorn continues to this day.

While camped at Powder River, Custer refused the support of an additional four companies of the Second Cavalry. Custer stated that he "could whip any Indian village on the Plains" with his own regiment, and that extra troops would simply be a burden.

Custer left behind a battery of Gatling guns, knowing he was facing superior numbers. Before leaving the camp all the troops, including the officers, also boxed their sabers and sent them back with the wagons.

On the day of the battle, Custer divided his 600-man command, despite being faced with vastly superior numbers of Sioux and Cheyenne.

The refusal of an extra battalion reduced the size of his force by at least a sixth, and rejecting the firepower offered by the Gatling guns played into the events of June 25 to the disadvantage of his regiment.

My 1933 Western Series No 845 Custers Last Stand card





My 1954 Topps Scoop No 45 card

 

Purchased 2 tokens fairly cheap @ US7 each - values appear high in good condition and I thought ideal for experimentation to improve the condition with a mild acid solution or Verdicare. Thoughts appreciated

Here's No 1
New Zealand Advertising Token. Mason & Struthers & Co - 1d. Christchurch , minted by Stokes & Martin, Melbourne, for Stokes and Martin plating, 1873-1893.

Interesting story attached to the Stokes and Martin mint
In 1873 Thomas Stokes took a partner, Martin, into his business. The partnership lasted until 1893, when a disastrous fire damaged a large portion of the business. Unfortunately Martin had forgotten to renew the fire insurance policy, and the partnership was dissolved as a result.

In good condition they are on ebay for between US$54 and $720
https://ebay.to/3ArK8gx

 

1875 S Clarkson, Builder, Importer Christchurch NZ

El cheapo token No 2 - US$7
May try to improve condition with Verdicare. Thoughts appreciated

Value seems to be around the US60-$960 according to
Coins Catalogue.net


Born in the parish of Greenwich, Kent, Samuel Clarkson's (1836-1895) father was a builder by trade. He worked on a number of significant projects before his early death in 1855. Samuel followed his father's trade, working as a carpenter and contractor from Cashel Street, Christchurch. His first home was at 305 Cashel Street and he later built a two storey home at 137 Ollivier's Road. The house was still standing in 1950. In 1857 Samuel Clarkson married a Miss Lodge, who was said to have been the first European child born in Wellington.

After several years he went out of the building-contracting business, and opened a wholesale builder's merchant's warehouse in St Asaph Street, near Montreal Street. Cement, and at this address the Trade Tokens which bear his name were issued in 1875.

 

I think any kind of acid will turn it pink. Mild or not. If you have acetone, a couple days in that might help. I have a half a bottle of verdi-care. I rarely use it but it might be your solution (pardon the pun)
I would try acetone first then the same treatment with verdi-care.

Neat medals. It's not terrible, the way it is, it's natural verdigris. It won't get worse.
Be sure to show it again with your results for us if you do anything.

 

@TheNickelGuy

Thanks, I appreciate your thoughts and ideas.
Once I get them both in my hand I will be better able to see the actual condition and decide on the appropriate course of action.

 

1970 Captain James Cook
State Savings Bank of Victoria Medal
Gilt 33mm





Captain James Cook 1728 - 1779 was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy, commander of HM Bark Endeavour for the first of three Pacific voyages.

Cook made detailed maps of Newfoundland prior to making three voyages to the Pacific Ocean, during which he achieved the first recorded European contact with the eastern coastline of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands, and the first recorded circumnavigation of New Zealand.
Cook sailed thousands of miles across largely uncharted areas of the globe.
He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously achieved.
As he progressed on his voyages of discovery he surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time.
He displayed a combination of seamanship, superior surveying and cartographic skills, physical courage and an ability to lead men in adverse conditions.
Cook's contributions to knowledge were internationally recognized during his lifetime.



In 1779, while the American colonies were fighting Britain for their independence, Benjamin Franklin wrote to captains of colonial warships at sea, recommending that if they came into contact with Cook's vessel, they were to

"not consider her an enemy, nor suffer any plunder to be made of the effects contained in her, nor obstruct her immediate return to England by detaining her or sending her into any other part of Europe or to America; but that you treat the said Captain Cook and his people with all civility and kindness as common friends to mankind."

Unknown to Franklin, Cook was already attacked and killed when this "passport" was written.
In 1779 during his third exploratory voyage in the Pacific while attempting to kidnap Kalaniopuu, a Hawaiian chief, in order to reclaim a cutter stolen from one of his ships. He left a legacy of scientific and geographical knowledge which was to influence his successors well into the 20th century, and numerous memorials worldwide have been dedicated to him.

Cook circled the globe on two voyages with the same goat, the first recorded animal to circle the globe.
William Bligh sailed with and was under Cook's command who later was given command of the famous HMS Bounty. ( Mutiny on the Bounty )
Cook also witnessed human sacrifices on Tahiti.

 

1986 Wilhelm Tell Orden
Luzern Casino Medal





A medal to add to my other folklore medals. I remember very well the story of William Tell as a child.
Perhaps being a youngster myself with good imagination, I could not quite grasp the idea of why he would take the chance of shooting his son in error. It's one of those things that stick with you I suppose.
It has stuck with the Swiss for over 700 years.

I have found this large 53mm 58 gram medal came with a red velvet ribbon to be worn about the neck, my best guess is that it is a modern silvered shooting medal from the mid 1980's sponsored by the Casino Luzern that is located on the shore of Lake Lucerne in Lucerne Switzerland.
The casino is shown on the reverse.



The Wilhelm Tell Monument is a memorial to William Tell in the market place of Altdorf, Canton of Uri, Switzerland. This is nicely depicted on the obverse.
The bronze statue by sculptor Richard Kissling was inaugurated on August 28, 1895 at the foot of an old tower. Behind the scupture is a bronze plate with the following inscription
that translates to
It will be talked about (in the sense of "stories will be told about") the marksman Tell as long as the mountains stand on their base. It shows the Swiss national hero with his crossbow and accompanied by his son. At the base is the traditional date of Rütlischwur of 1307.



Rütlischwur is a legendary oath of the Old Swiss Confederacy, taken on the Rütli, a meadow above Lake Uri near Seelisberg. The oath is notably featured in the play William Tell (Wilhelm Tell) by Friedrich Schiller.

The legend of William Tell, a folk hero from Switzerland, was the start of the swiss revolution, written first in the 15th-century White Book of Sarnen, and later the basis for Friedrich Schiller's 1804 play.

Tell is arrested for failing to bow in respect to the hat that the newly appointed Austrian Vogt, Albrecht Gessler, has placed on a pole, and Gessler commands him to shoot an apple off his son's head with a single bolt from his crossbow.
If he did not both he and his son would be killed.
After splitting the apple with the single shot on November 18, 1307, Tell is asked why he took more than one arrow from his quiver.
At first he responds that it was out of habit, but when assured he will not be killed for answering honestly, says the second bolt was meant for Gessler's heart should his arrow strike his son.

In Schiller's play, the demand to shoot the apple off the boy's head motivates Gessler's murder.

 

1981 Rip Van Winkle
Large 3 inch Calendar Medal
Franklin Mint





"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by American author Washington Irving published in 1819. It follows a man in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains and wakes up twenty years later.



One autumn day, to escape his wife's nagging, Van Winkle wanders into the mountains with his dog, Wolf. Hearing his name called out, Van Winkle sees a man wearing antiquated Dutch clothing; he is carrying a keg up the mountain and requires help. Together, the men and Wolf proceed to a hollow in which Rip discovers the source of thunderous noises: a group of ornately dressed, silent, bearded men who are playing nine-pins.
Van Winkle does not ask who they are or how they know his name. Instead, he begins to drink some of their Jenever and soon falls asleep.
When he awakens on the mountain, Van Winkle discovers shocking changes.
His musket is rotting and rusty, his beard is a foot long, and his dog is nowhere to be found. He returns to his village, where he recognizes no one.

Van Winkle learns that the men he met in the mountains are rumored to be the ghosts of Henry Hudson's crew, which had vanished long ago, and that he has been away from the village for at least 20 years. His grown daughter takes him in. He resumes his usual idleness, and his strange tale is solemnly taken to heart by the Dutch settlers, particularly by the children who say that whenever thunder is heard, the men in the mountains must be playing nine-pins. The henpecked husbands in the area often wish they could have a sip of Van Winkle's elixir to sleep through their own wives' nagging.

I also have this bullion bar
1976 Hamilton Mint
Rip Van Winkle
.999 Silver 1 Troy Oz

 

1969 Bunyan Appleseed
Medallic Art Co



Society of Medalists Issue No.79 1969
Paul Bunyan ~ Johnny Appleseed
Bronze 73 mm By Bruno Mankowski ~ Medallic Art Company.

Obverse: Paul Bunyan shown wielding an axe, his giant blue ox "Babe", is in the background.
Reverse: Johnny Appleseed shown striding to the left scattering seed with one hand and carrying a shovel on his shoulder with the other.

Paul Bunyan and his Blue Ox

In the urban legends Bunyan is described as a Lumberjack of gigantic stature and size with titanic power and strength. In American folklore he and his blue Ox named Babe are said to be responsible for the creation of several American landscapes, landmarks and natural wonders.
For example they are said to have created the 10,000 lakes of Minnesota by their footprints, inlcuding Lake Bemidji, which indeed has the shape of a giant footprint resembling it when viewed from high above.
Further Bunyan is said to have created the Grand Canyon by pulling his ax behind him, and Mount Hood by putting stones on his campfire.
The men's shanty in his camp covered a half section, and the mess camp was a stupendous affair. The range on which an army of cookees prepared the beans and "red horse" was so long that when the cook wanted to grease it up for the purpose of baking the wheat cakes in the morning, they strapped two large hams to his feet and started him running up and down a half mile of black glistening stove top.



My 1949 G1 Bowman Paul Bunyan Non Sports Card




I also have this bullion bar
1976 Hamilton Mint
Paul Bunyan
.999 Silver 1 Troy Oz



Johnny Appleseed
(on the other side)



John Chapman was a real person (September 26, 1774 – March 18, 1845), better known as Johnny Appleseed, an American pioneer nurseryman who introduced apple trees to large parts of Pennsylvania, Ontario, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, as well as the northern counties of present-day West Virginia.
He was said to have worn a tin pan or pot on his head as it double as headgear and for cooking.
He became an American legend while still alive, due to his kind, generous ways, his leadership in conservation, and the symbolic importance he attributed to apples. He was also a missionary and the inspiration for many museums and historical sites such as the Johnny Appleseed Museum in Urbana, Ohio, and the Johnny Appleseed Heritage Center in Ashland County, Ohio.
The Fort Wayne TinCaps, a minor league baseball team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where Chapman spent his final years, is named in his honor.

 

I like these experimental pieces, but haven't seen one up close like this before. An interesting coin but the rotary press concept didn't end well.

Bruce

 

Not exactly exonumia . . . . but maybe.

Z

 

A new edition to my British Historical Medals (BHM) collection. Seller's photos.


Great Britain: Gulielmo Pitt R.P.Q.B. (Bust) // Patriae Columen Decus, Ob. A. MDCCCVI (Rock In A Storm). Bronze, 53mm, high relief, toning uncirculated, By T. Webb, published by E. Thomason, BHM-610, Eimer-975, the Death of William Pitt.

William Pitt the Younger (28 May 1759 – 23 January 1806) was a prominent Tory statesman of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He became the youngest prime minister of Great Britain in 1783 at the age of 24 and the first prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as of January 1801. He left office in March 1801 but served as prime minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806. He was also Chancellor of the Exchequer for all of his time as prime minister.

Pitt's prime ministerial tenure, which came during the reign of King George III, was dominated by major political events in Europe, including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Pitt, although often referred to as a Tory, or "new Tory", called himself an "independent Whig" and was opposed to the development of a strict partisan political system.

Pitt served as prime minister for a total of eighteen years, 343 days, making him the second longest serving British prime minister of all time.

 

1972 Pike's Peak - Colorado Springs Centennial
38mm Bronze Medal
Medallic Art Co.






The Pike's Peak Gold Rush was the boom in gold prospecting and mining in the Pike's Peak Country of western Kansas Territory and southwestern Nebraska Territory of the United States that began in July 1858 and lasted until roughly the creation of the Colorado Territory on February 28, 1861.
"Pike's Peak or Bust" was the slogan and vow for a large group of fortune seekers who rushed to the mining centers of the Rocky Mountains west of Denver from 1858 to 1875. Thousands of them were hoping to get rich by finding gold or silver in the hills.
Some made their fortune and others went "bust".




My 1949 A38 Bowman
Pikes Peak or Bust
Non sports card

 

1930's Pikes Peak Lucky Nickel
70 mm





I have been to over 40 of the 50 states but have not been to Colorado.
I have heard it is one of the most beautiful places to visit but I may never get there.

This 70 mm Big Lucky Nickel shows 4 natural attractions on the reverse. Pikes Peak and The Garden of the Gods. In the ovals are Cave of the Winds and Seven Falls.

 

1906 Zebulon Pike's Southwest Expedition
So-Called Dollar



Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado was renamed (from El Capitan).
As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions under authority of third President Thomas Jefferson through the new Louisiana Purchase territory, first in 1805-06 to reconnoiter the upper northern reaches of the Mississippi River, and then in 1806-07 to explore the Southwest to the fringes of the northern Spanish-colonial settlements of New Mexico and Texas.
Pike's expeditions coincided with other Jeffersonian expeditions, including the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804–1806) and the Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis expedition up the Red River (1806).
Pike's second expedition crossed the Rocky Mountains into what is now southern Colorado, which led to his capture by the Spanish colonial authorities near Santa Fe, who sent Pike and his men to Chihuahua (present-day Mexico), for interrogation.
Later in 1807, Pike and some of his men were escorted by the Spanish through Texas and released near American territory in Louisiana.

In 1810, Pike published an account of his expeditions, a book so popular that it was translated into Dutch, French, and German languages, for publication in Europe. He later achieved the rank of brigadier general in the American Army and served during the War of 1812, until he was killed during the Battle of York, in April 1813, outside the then British colonial capital of Upper Canada (later Ontario).


I have acquired this Heroes of History 1912 Zebulon Pike T68 Royal Bengals Little Cigars non sport tobacco card to accompany my medal.



Official Medals authorized by 59th Congress. Designed by C. E. Barber and struck at Philadelphia Mint.
Mint records reveal issue limited to 250 Silver proof, 250 Gold-plate, 4,200 gray-oxidized Silver and 6,250 Bronze. These were sold through local banks and Chamber of Commerce.
Bronze for 50 cents, Silver for $1; 65% of all were looped.
Some authorities insist these quantities were ones "ordered," that issue actually was smaller.
In any event, of total struck, large portion was delivered by Mint apparently too late for sale; they were stored and forgotten for 49 years.
In 1955 there were 4,000 pieces were found in a basement of an old First National Bank Building during demolition.
Historical Society of Pike's Peak Region, Inc. directed their sale to help finance 1956 Celebration (no new or additional medals struck for latter event).
Again, most were mounted but loops were expertly removed to make them acceptable to Collectors and many do defy detection.