"The Hunt For Mr. Loveless", by BRandM

BTW, I forget to ask. Did anyone look for Riley Haskell yet?

Bruce

 

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Thanks Bruce , I thought of that after I wrote it about the large cents being gone , but just figured being around a RR they'd have to have a small machine shop . But the truth in the pudding is he did use a half dollar . I guess me being an ex tool & die maker makes me think like a machinist . lol

 

I was thinking the ole boy was trying to impress his wife and/or Mercy with a silver piece rather than a brass tag or copper coin.

 

Amazing research, Bruce. And thank you for sharing the article and photos about it, Amanda!

Christian

 

http://www.oldfishinglure.com/haskellminnow.htm

Gunsmith and fishing lure maker from around the Civil War.

 

Brilliant Bruce! Thanks for sharing and educating us on your process.

Proud owner of some fine BR&M work! Here's but one example:



Note: These are two shots of the same coin.

 

Cool , it looks like Bruce has his own counterstamp . BRandM .

 

Well, "mercy" me longnine! That may be the answer.

Bruce

 

Good job LG! Riley was quite a guy wasn't he?

Bruce

 

I have four of them actually. Told you I was hardcore.

Bruce

 

Rockin' Roy even mentions her name.

 

And it was a form of advertising that got passed around. This practice continued until the 1870s by which time the federales seemed to have stopped potential counterstampers from circulating their coins.

 

You're right scottishmoney, things in the world of counterstamping slowed down after that time. By the 1890s it was pretty much a thing of the past. Surprisingly, there's still a decent number of modern stamps out there. Some political, others personal and even advertising pieces show up here and there. I have a separate collection of those from the modern era (1948 to present) and it numbers about 135 examples. An interesting era to collect in its own right.

Bruce

 

Bruce - I save the counterstamps I find in roll searches, probably have about 75-80 of them - mostly those state things from the mid 1970s, but a few others. The best is the "No More War" that I found a couple of months ago in a nickel roll:



This just has everything you want, a political message about the times when it was done. Not a very common find.

 

Bruce, it was truly my pleasure. I couldn't believe I was able to get so much information on the Burnside Bracelet. I actually found a book called Cripple Creek Days that references W.O. Burnside a couple of times. I also received a receipt from W.O. Burnside's store from the family. I just hope I can find it a good home or afford it first (hopefully the latter)

 

I have a couple of these in my collection but have never found one...or any others...in change or in rolls. In case you didn't know these were struck by Tom Maringer's Shire Post Mint in Springdale, ARK. All were stamped on nickels as far as I know between 2006 and 2010.

There's another of his that reads "No Oil War" and has a small American eagle stamp on the reverse. He only struck 200 of the ones with the eagle reverse before the die broke. I think there are others without the eagle, but I'm not positive.

There are three others that I believe may have been issued by Maringer. There's a "No War For Oil" with a small St. Gaudens $20 gold piece stamp on the reverse. A very well executed stamp as all of his are. Two others that may or may not be his are "End The Fed" with "Ron Paul / 2012" on the reverse. The second is the common "FSP" stamps. I wouldn't be surprised if you found one of his other issues some day.

BTW, what other counterstamps to you have other than the states and bust of Lincoln coins? I keep a census of contemporary issues and you may have one that I don't know about. Great find in a roll scottishmoney. Thanks for showing it.

Bruce

 

To add what I know about the Maringer coins:

The NML/NMW dies were also used by at least two associates of Maringer in addition to him.

NO OIL WAR mintage was supposedly just under 800. I had not heard of them until I stumbled on the last lot of 100 that he was selling on eBay some years ago. I paid dearly for them but the auction included a few unique coins (nickels of different dates) and also the last few coins struck as the obverse die was failing, up to and including the last coin struck when the die finally broke. As far as I know, all of these were struck with the eagle die on the reverse – he needed something there to offset the pressure from the obverse die.

You are correct on the Maringer connection to the others: dollar coins with “No War For Oil" with a small St. Gaudens $20 gold piece stamp on the reverse; "End The Fed" with "Ron Paul / 2012" on the reverse was made for an associate (but Maringer also struck a few), and I believe/assume that he also made the "FSP" stamps as they were used by the same person. That person also had a set of dies that were much more basic in design that he may have made himself (?) that he used on a few coins that he sometimes gave away with orders for the other coins he sold; the design is a bit indecipherable. Most of his work was done on nickels but he also did a few dollar coins.

As for the NO WAR FOR OIL dollar coins, I jumped on those when Tom Maringer first listed some and also arranged to send him rolls of the first several Presidential dollar coins – he stamped them up and kept half and returned half to me. I did not see them online for long – I am not sure if he lost interest or if something happened to the dies. He also sent me a small pile of the information cards that he put in the empty side of the plastic flip when he sold them and he told me to feel free to list a few myself (I have not done so – not yet anyway). I am always on the lookout for new counterstamps by him but he has a lot of other inetersts and projects that consume his time.

 

Thanks for the info Jeff. I was hoping that you'd chime in because I know you know more about these counterstamps than I do.

Bruce

 

I know I have a 1950s nickel that got counterstamped with some stamp from a General Motors plant somewhere - I'll have to dig it out.

 

An excellent article, Bruce. I learned a lot about sleuthing counterstamps. It's curious that you don't think the LS&MS Railroad stamped the coin. Would they have given Loveless a half dollar and said, "Here, go get it stamped?" Or given him the punches and said, "Do it yourself?" I'm wondering why you assume it wasn't punched by the railroad just because it appears to have been accomplished with individual letter punches. Are there other examples of coins stamped with this particular railroad's company initials, to make a comparison?