GDJMSP or Other moderators. Please let me know if you don't want me showing non-coin items on this site. I just love sharing the finds I have made with others. It is fun seeing stuff you've never seen before. I will abide buy what you say. Thanks, Jim Found this a few years back and sold it on e-bay. Since then I have found another but it does not have the date on it. Through research I found that this token was given with a pair of "official boy scout shoes" from the company that is written on the token. Check out the reverse. I really thought this was strange when I first found this. Until I learned that the symbol was a good luck charm for many years before Hitler got ahold of it. Thats what makes this hobby so fun. Finding things you have never seen and learning about them. I still love the old coin finds the best though.
Jim: Nice token, I found one like it years ago, with my metal detector. Now, if I could only find it.
As long as it's numismatically related, you show all ya want. And exonumia such this definitely qualifies :thumb:
Jim, since you have made the effort to do some research, I thought I would offer this information on the chance some of it may be new to you. From Scouting Exonumia Worldwide by Rudy J. Dioszegi, Forrest and A. Grave Williams, brothers, started the Excelsior Manufacturing Company at Pig Corner in Portsmouth, Ohio around the turn of the 20th century. They began by making Sam Brown belts and spats. As the firm grew, it was moved and expanded to the Williams Manufacturing Company. From this beginning, with the help of Brian Mathews, the Excelsior Shoe Company was started in early 1910. The company subsequently became the manufacturer of "The Original 'Boy Scout' Shoe for Boys". The shoes also had the official imprimatur of the Boy Scouts of America organization. The medallions - considered the first United States Scout medallions - were apparently issued between July, 1910 and January, 1914. The original group of medallions are dated July, 1910, while subsequent issues omit all reference to date. There appears to be eight major varieties. To date, two manufacturers are evidenced for these medallions. 1st, the Schwaab Stamp and Seal Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 2nd, The Whitehead & Hoag Company of Newark, New Jersey. Schwaab appears to be the first manufacturer commissioned as some of that company's medallions have the date imprinted while no dated medallions bear the Whitehead & Hoag name. Whitehead & Hoag probably submitted a lower bid and was then the manufacturer. A peculiarity of Whitehead & Hoag raises a supposition to the issues without the manufacturer's name on it. When allowed to manufacture items with the name Whitehead & Hoag imprinted, the company was competitively priced. Otherwise, they would double the price of that item! Variety number 3F is apparently the only issue of the Excelsior medallion to be issued in sterling silver. This was a promotional ad of the Excelsior Shoe Company. When all the scouts in a given troop purchased "Boy Scout" shoes and it was properly documented, the Scoutmaster would be issued a sterling silver medallion in recognition of this accomplishment. It follows that this variety should be quite scarce. Similar medals without reference to "Boy Scouts" or scout shoes were also manufactured for other company products. The reference book also displays sample shoe ads from the Boy Scout Handbook, correspondence letters from Whitehead & Hoag, and a post card picture of the Excelsior Shoe Company as it appeared on a postcard dated October 20, 1917. The token shown in the OP is of the 2nd major type. There are 16 sub varieties of that type (60 for all 8 types). I'm not positive of when this book was published, as the newest date given in the front of the book is 1995, but it contains info for up to 1999 issues. Type 2 values range from $8 to $15 in ave. circ., $10 to $20 for Fine/VF, and $17 to $25 for XF.
Jim...just curious about where you search for this stuff? I am in Boston and just do not know where to look... RickieB
Hey Rickie, hit old home sites. front yards are best. Thats where I have my best luck. Gotta have permission of course. Go knockin. Old church lots, one room school sites. Research your area and find the old spots. Boston is full of em. Find yourself a chain cent. Jim
Thought that you'd be interested, one note, originally the 'flyfot' was commonly pictured counterclockwise, as opposed to the Nazi symbol: THE SWASTIKA: A SIGN OF GOOD LUCK BECOMES A SYMBOL OF EVIL The Swastika Flag The swastika is a very old symbol with use widespread throughout the world. Sometimes referred to as a “Gammadion" "Hakenkreuz” or a "Flyfot,” it traditionally had been a sign of good fortune and well being The word “swastika” is derived from the Sanskrit “su” meaning “well” and “asti” meaning “being.” It also is considered to be a representation of the sun and is associated with the worship of Aryan sun gods. It is a symbol in both Jainism and Buddhism, as well as a Nordic runic emblem and a Navajo sign. By definition, the swastika is a primitive symbol or ornament in the form of a cross. As the illustration below shows, the arms of the cross are of equal length with a section of each arm projecting at right angles from the end of each arm, all in the same direction and usually clockwise. When Adolph Hitler, the frustrated artist, was placed in charge of propaganda for the fledgling National Socialist Party in 1920, he realized that the party needed a vivid symbol to distinguish it from rival groups. He sought a design, therefore, that would attract the masses. Hitler selected the swastika as the emblem of racial purity displayed on a red background “to win over the worker,” Hitler had a convenient but spurious reason for choosing the Hakenkreuz or hooked cross. It had been used by the Aryan nomads of India in the Second Millennium B.C. In Nazi theory, the Aryans were the Germans ancestors, and Hitler concluded that the swastika had been “eternally anti-Semitic.” In spite of its fanciful origin the swastika flag was a dramatic one and it achieved exactly what Hitler intended from the first day it was unfurled in public. Anti-Semites and unemployed workers rallied to the banner, and even Nazi opponents were forced to acknowledge that the swastika had a “hypnotic effect.” “The hooked cross” wrote American correspondent William Shirer "seemed to beckon to action the insecure lower-middle classes which had been floundering in the uncertainty of the first chaotic postwar years.” The swastika flag had a suggestive sense of power and direction. It embodied all of the Nazi concepts within simple symbol. As Adolph Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “In red we see the social idea of the movement, in white the Nationalist idea, and in the swastika the vision of’ the struggle for the victory of the Aryan man.”
So is Brooklyn. I have a list of old homes on www.brooklynonline.con I also have a friend who is an Archeologist at Brooklyn Colledge. He has found a lot of coins over the years. Ruben
The "swastika" was used by many cultures with various positive meanings. I was once at an exhibit of ancient chinese artifacts and noticed alot of swastikas. The tour guide told me it was a symbol of power to the chinese. Anyway, cool find Jim
