CONTEST IS CLOSED now. I'll post the results tomorrow.. Feel free to post estimates but they will not be considered for the prize. The PRIZE is a Half roll of uncirculated 1969 S Cents!! Some interesting numismatic related history maybe to add to your knowledge.. You'll either find it interesting or you'll be mad you read it all.. sorry for the length. I've got tickets to the Baltimore AR on the 16th. One of the things in the fine print says that COINS cannot be appraised. I know what my SC$ collection is worth (to me at least), and I wouldn't care to take any coin to have it appraised there or anywhere else even IF they did it.. but I thought someone here might be interested to see what I AM bringing.. since it's HF related and coin-like (metallic, releived). I'll be starting a CONTEST in the contests section, a 'guess the appraisel' contest.. where I'll post pictures tonite or tomorrow.. I've NEVER been able to find anything like this item anywhere.. there are NO photos of them anywhere on the entire internet. The photos in my contest will be the ONLY ones that exist I'm pretty certain. There are SOME refference materials available at Brown university.. but that is quite a distance from me. I'm hoping some random person looking at my contest has some resources or info that I do not. Background.. many of you may be already aware.. but anyway: There are at least a dozen metallic tokens, so-called dollars, medals, medallions and commemorative pins from the 1909 cellebration, I think everyone here should seek one of the SC$ for their collection. Those with less limited resources may be able to find one of the gold tokens given to foreign dignitaries and officials. In 2009 we will supposedly see the celebration return, hopefully many cool tokens and SC$, and reportedly the 4th of july cellebration in NYC we will see an increase in the number of fireworks barges from 2 to 17! Miss Hillary is on the comittee. My items are 2 individually framed bronze releifs, about 15" high by 12" wide. The bronze is almost a half inch thick and probably weighs 7 to 10 pounds each. Some will recognize ROINE or WEIL, the copyright holders/ artists. The pieces were made by the Gorham company. The images are very similar to the design on the HF SC$s... almost like this was the design made as a guide to the SC$ engravers.. but I completely doubt that. The same design was simply used for both the SC$ and these pieces. There is a "Q" number incused on back. Neither are signed. Are they "numismatic" .. I'm sure NOT by the definition. Still they're neeto, and maybe worth something. THey look like something that should be hanging in a town hall in Albany or something. (Gorham made the bronze Washington in the US Capitol rotunda, Americas cup, and the Stanley cup too I beleive)
A So-Called Dollar. They're not dollars per se, but rather tokens/medals (?) about the size of a U.S. silver dollar.
AR is "the show we love to hate" in our house. I find it entertaining but the rest of the family can't stand it. "Well, I have this used toaster here, and I'm wondering whether it's worth anything..." Not that I would have anything numismatic worth bringing, but thanks for the heads up that I couldn't anyway... Good luck with the SC$'s!
John,we get the British Antiques Roadshow on T.V. over here,but we did have some old episodes of the U.S. Antiques Roadshow with Dan Elias on for a while a couple of years back. How do you manage to get to watch the latest episodes of the U.S. Antiques Roadshow? You must have got a pretty big satellite dish in your back yard or on your roof. Personally,I reckon this new Freeview is a real have,as it is going to cost NZ$600 to get set up for it. Aidan.
John,I didn't know that you were a subscriber to Sky T.V..You can use your Sky T.V. aerial to receive Freeview.I don't know if it will be possible to receive both Freeview & Sky T.V. at the same time. Do you see many coins or banknotes on the U.S. Antiques Roadshow? Who is the host of it these days? Aidan.
Contest underway! I WILL have fun! thanks. I might improve my chances of getting on TV by fudging my purchase price slightly. I'm posting the pics and contest in a sec.. but here are the pics for this thread... Please, if you have contest specific questions submit them in the contest thread.
Delmer,those are very unusual plaques depicting Henry Hudson & Robert Fulton.I have heard of Henry Hudson,but not Robert Fulton though.Please can you tell us a bit about them? Aidan.
Thers really alot to tell, but in short, he was born about 20 miles from me, in southeastern PA, he lived during the time of Jefferson etc (adult in 1780's to 1800s).. He started out being an artist who was classically trained overseas, then took interest in engineering and inventing. He's admired by people like me for his free thinking. He is mostly known for making the first successful commercially applied steamboat (some say he invented the steamboat, but there are earlier cases of people "trying" and succeeding to a degree) He is the undisputed trigger for an explosion in USA commerce as his steamboats opened up the country with viable long-distance travel. It is noted that he had his success because of his association with backers and influential folks of the day such as a frenchman named Livingston who had an estate in NJ called "clermont" after which Fulton's first steamboat was named (re-named.. Fulton had another name for it and it has been said that Clermont was a re-name.. the spelling of which is not totally agreed upon either)... thus is admired for his business skills, even though he was mostly a 'hands on" person and not a politician. He negotiated and defended a monopoly on steamboat use in the hudson for 10 years.. after which competition greatly helped open up local travel at compeditive prices. He started work on the design of USA's fleet of steam submarines but died a couple years (of basically a FLU after working in the rain on the project) into the project and I beleive never saw one get comissioned and underway. He made a impact on the shape of the country but isn't as well known as those around him that we all know. To this day there is a controversy as to his likenesses that are used in various images commemorating him.. but the most accepted is the wiley-haired not-so-handsome version (like my pieces). You'll find him not only in tokens, but I think theres some real US halves or $2.5 coins with a face value around. A society of Engineers erected a statue for him overlooking the river some years ago. Edit, I forgot to include Hudson.. I have not spent so much time on him.. I have common knowledge only, He navigated up the Hudson river all the way and I think mapped it. Imagine discovering a river that was named the same as you! I'm no historian, I just read alot and globbed it all together I think I have all that right. There is lots of info online.
