Let's see your exonumia!

A souvenir Medal from the Spy Museum, Washington D.C.

 

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I got this from Paul Cunningham at
the FUN show in 2005.
WETSU // INN issued by the 119th
AHC (helicopter assualt company)
Camp Holloway , Pleiku, Vietnam
Plated brass, C/A, 21mm 4.8 grms
WETSU= We eat this (expelled waste
matter) up.
Cunningham VN4020G

 

Is the obverse and reverse the same? Does it have a value (like five cents, etc.)? It sure looks to be in good shape. One of my collecting interests are Air Force mess tokens so I like seeing other tokens. I do need to check out that book by Cunningham.

 

Jwt708 I'm sorry but I aborted the
upload for reverse. I think 35 minutes
is long enough. Apparently the reverse
is way too intricate for MetroPCS so
let me just type out the reverse in all
it's intricate glory. Okay, here we go
now:
5c

If I come across a hot spot somewhere
I'll try another upload. Even that's faster
than Metro.

 

Haha! I think you did good!

 

MetroPCS: the little engine that could.

Rev. WETSU token.

 

Ok longnine009, here's one for ya (and everyone else):



This one is my newest Mess Token and my first counter stamped coin. Once upon a time it was issued for Wolters Air Force Base, which was only an Air Force Base from 1951 to 1956 when it went back to the Army as Fort Wolters. The counter stamp comes from a Texas based Army unit, the 49th Armored Division which was one of two armored divisions in the Army Reserve. The 49th was around from 1947 to 2004...unless I'm wrong. The "X" stamped into the center below the 49 looks to me like a simplified expression of their patch, which had a tank track with a cannon and lightning bolt crossed.

 

Makes more sense than they discounted it to .49¢ from .50¢

 

Haha! I didn't even think of that!!!

 

I have a strong affinity for Cadillac cars (older ones) but they're not very well represented in coins/exonumia except for a couple of really old models. That's why I picked this one up. What's great about these items is I can indulge some other tastes without spending very much money at all. This was less then a value meal.

 

Jwt708
A counter stamped mess token; that is cool.
Is it aluminum or plated?

 

I'm pretty sure it's aluminum but do you mind explaining to me the difference?

It's soft, thin, and light.

 

Sometimes they can be nickel plated
brass. Aluminum is soft. Maybe that's
why they counter-struck them rather
issue new one. I'll see if I can find
something on it in Cunningham's book
when I get a chance. I'm at work right
now.

 

I figured it was an inter-service rivalry thing but that was just me imagining someone stamping an Air Force Mess Token with an Army Unit as a sort of "got ya." I appreciate you looking that up in Cunningham!

 

Yeah, it could be that too. But ole Ike was
pretty frugal.

I'm imagining a sadistic 1st Sgt tormenting
some private by making him punch tokens
for six months. LOL

 

Jwt708

Cunningham does have it listed as a counter-stamp.
And struck in aluminum.
Obv. W.A.F.B // N.C.O//Club //
MINERAL WELLS, TEXAS

Rev.
GOOD FOR// 5c//IN TRADE
(CTST "49" or "49X" for 49th Armored Division)

Cunningham
TX2500f 5c
TX2500g 10c
TX2500h 25 c

 

Cunningham comment:

Camp Wolters, 1925 began as a training
camp for the 112th Texas and 113th
New Mexico regiments of the 56th Brigade,
National Guard. Infantry training activities,
begining in 1941, peaked during World War ll.
Reactivated and renamed Wolters Air Force
base in 1951, by 1956 it had returned to Army
control and was renamed Camp Wolters again,
then Fort Wolters in 1963. It has become the
number one helicopter training facility in the
United States.

 

BTW, he has listings that don't have
counter-stamps and he has an Army
Camp Bus-line Good for one fare
attributed to Camp Wolters.
Atwood TX640A

 

8th RRU (radio research unit) Brass,
C/A , 4.5grms, 21mm, Tri-Bac field
station, Phu Bai, Vietnam, same both
sides.

The RRUs were part of the Army Security
Agency who did signal Intel during Vietnam.
"Research" was intended to disguise what
they doing. Got that? So, you can imagine
the hapless Vietcong infiltrator staring at a
hundred antennas on a roof top and he's just
all confused because he can't figure out what
"radio research" means. LOL You gotta love
Uncle.

 

Thanks for all the info longnine009! So do you think they counter stamped the tokens when the Army took over? And was the 49th even stationed there?