Part of the haul this weekend was a couple pounds of stuff like this: wooden nickles, transportation tokens & elongated pennies...all so far unexamined. Do any/all of these qualify as exonumia? I have no desire to post items of no interest to CT members, so hope for some exclusive definition, saving all of us time. This was said to have been a give-away at and soon after the opening of the Golden Gate Bridge (in 1937 I think). It appears to be of copper & silk; the two sides differ only in the word 'JAPAN' in place of the lozenge at bottom. I have maybe 15 of them; some look chrome or nickel plated, all 'uncirculated'. Are these fairly under the heading, or have I trespassed with them? Thanks!
I would say everything except maybe the GG bridge pieces are exonumia. All of those have their fan bases. The GG item. I wonder what the heck that is? Why would it say Japan?
This should help you with those categories that are considered exonumia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exonumia As for the Golden Gate Bridge, I doubt it. I don't think they are that old either. It appears to be 60's vintage as that is when improving relations with Japan following WWII brought increased imports of novelty items into the US. I don't think the cord is silk either. Chris
We shall see about that...should be simple enough to test conclusively. I'll go lookin' for references to the trinket. Thanks.
Yep...the cord IS silk! Will not support flame; smells like burning hair; ash is a wee black ball, which powders gray between finger & thumb. But eBay hasn't seen one of the trinkets recently, so the jury is still out on when made. More as it happens.
