30.76mm; 13.2gm I attended a local annual Flea Market yesterday, and bought many exonumic(?) items, mostly from one vendor. This and three others I will post this morning are the cream of the haul, though there may be a couple sleepers yet to appear. The 'Penny' designation looks to be about internal-to-the-organization affairs...this ain't coin of the realm. The two tool shown, and the keystone on the obverse, seem to point to masonry in the craft/trade sense rather than the Masonic Lodge. I've done no research yet, but Seattle is practically in my back yard, so success should be relatively easy. Any of you familiar with this? Comments most welcome, thanks!
http://cgi.ebay.com/Superb-Early-Marked-Seattle-Mount-Ranier-Chapter-No-52-Masonic-Penny-Token_W0QQitemZ120803003255QQcmdZViewItemQQssPageNameZRSS:B:SRCH:US:101 it is masonic but no picture
"Question: I have a penny and the date on it is May 28,1926. On the front it reads One penny, has a gavel and a different symbol which I am unsure of. there is a design in the middle with the letters KSHTWSST in a ring. On the back side it reads Rainier Chapter No. 52 R.A.M. Constituted Seattle,Wa. May 28,1926. It also has a picure of Mt. Rainier. I wanted To know the history behind it, and What it is. Is it worth anything? You have a Masonic Chapter "penny" actually a kind of membership card in the chapter that is listed on the token. The Masons are an old and venerable organization that has its roots in the time of the Crusades in the Middle Ages. There is a good collector market for Masonic Chapter Pennies. Value range: $5-$25. See the Coin Doc's Archive #4 and search for "Masons" for more information. " there you go you have to scroll dowm threw a bunch of questions and answers some so i copyied the whole thing http://www.coinsite.com/content/cdanswers/cdarchive27.asp pretty cool i have a 1956 blue masonic bible with the g symbol on the front i like mason stuff
if you ever decied to get rid of it i would take to the place its for im sure some mason would buy it
There are hundreds of varieties of these "Masonic Pennies" tokens. You can find pages of them on Ebay. This is a "Masonic Penny", made for members of the Berkeley, California RAM Masonic lodge. Masonic Penny, Berkeley, California, RAM Chapter 92 The date on the token, April 18, 1906, was the date the lodge was founded, which happened to be a rather significant date in the city of San Francisco, where the Grand Lodge was having a convention.
[ Hello, What flea market was it? Was it on the peninsula? I am just wondering. I am your friendly neighbor in the Burien area. take care in PA
Elegant Flea, held F&S of the 1st weekend in April at the Grange (McCleay Hall), Sequim. The vendor with all the goodies is from Anacortes so I only rarely see him more than once a year, at that event.
hmmm, I am from Anacortes, born, raised, family all still there. - - - Wonder who it is? I want to visit his table!
The fellow's name is Jim Nolan; his Lady is Judy Schwenk. I spent over a Grand with him and got pounds more stuff, much of it exonumia (more pics coming). He had by far the best tables there, with an amazing range of old loot...amazing smalls.
A Masonic or Mark Penny. Given to new initiates when they join the lodge, kind of an eternal membership card. Some people just lef them blank, some like apparently this one, added their initials, and on some you will also find their membership number. These then to be most desired because they can often be traced to a specific person and time. The ob is a some what generic desing common to many Masonic pennys, while the reverse is usually specific to the individual lodge such as this one is. The large style Mark pennys have apparently fallen out of favor, probably due to cost. I would think they have probably been replaced by the counterstamped Lincoln cents with the embossed Masons symbol on them.
