"Follow The Leader" coin thread BY THEME (for ALL types of coins, tokens, and medals)

Victoria or maple leaves next.

 

Cyprus. 4-1/2 piastres, 1901.

Let's have odd denominations, next. That Jersey 1/13 shilling I posted earlier is another weird number.

 

Cyprus again. 18 piastres this time.

Keep the unusual denominations coming.

 

Continuing "odd denominations" theme.

Brazil: 960 Reis.

Next, lets go with "globes" as the theme.

 

(Edit)

Gaahhh! Too slow.

I can do WW1, though... hang on...

 

"Souvenir of an Invasion": WW1 German trench art on 1904 Belgian 10-centime coin)

Larger obverse picture
Larger reverse picture

Host coin: 1904 Belgium 10-centimes, KM53.
Obverse: host coin details unaltered, red (glass?) "jewel" mounted in original center hole. Bail ringmounted at top.
Reverse: host design planed off, re-engraved inGerman: "Feldzug in Belgien [Campaign in Belgium] 1914-1915", iron cross at left.

Ex- "acsb-rich", eBay, 03/17/2017.

I've had some interesting pieces of World War I "trench art" coins come and go in recent years, but this is the first piece with German engraving I've had, and also the first "love token" piece I've had with a mounted stone in it. (I've always kind of liked those, but one has eluded me until now). It was rather stiffly priced and the seller drove a hard bargain, but after some deliberation I decided to go for it.

This coin was probably made into a souvenir for a German soldier to send home to his mother or sweetheart. Though there is no name nor initials to associate it with an individual soldier, it does describe itself as a relic of the German campaign in Belgium ("Feldzug in Belgien") in 1914 and 1915.

The 1914 German invasion of Belgium was a brutal affair and there were a number of atrocities, though these were somewhat exaggerated by British and French propaganda. Many civilians were killed and cultural sites destroyed.

Eventually the German advance was checked by Allied forces and the war along the Western Front devolved into the muddy stalemate in the trenches we so often see depicted in films today.

Of course the Germans learned their lesson and never invaded Belgium again.

Haha. If only that were true! The Nazi blitzkrieg swept through again in 1940.

 

"The Sailmaker's Badge": WW1 Royal Flying Corps identity disc made from 1916 British half crown



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Larger reverse picture

Host coin: 1916 Great Britain half crown, KM818.1.
Obverse: planed off and engraved "2ND A.M. /ARTHUR PERRY. / 33274 /R.F.C.".
Reverse: Original coat of arms design, unaltered.

Ex- "acsb-rich", eBay, 11/25/2015.

A historically interesting subset within the collecting of engraved coins are the pieces that were made into identity discs ("dog tags") during the First World War, which fall under the more general category called "trench art". Often these World War I pieces were made with French silver 1- and 2-franc coins as hosts, but this example was engraved on a larger British silver coin- a 1916 half crown. Furthermore, the serviceman, 2nd Air Mechanic Arthur Perry, #33274, served with the Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force. So this piece has a somewhat less common host coin and an early aviation provenance, which is great.

Wikipedia link: Royal Flying Corps

What do we know of 2nd Air Mechanic Arthur Perry? Only a few things. He was born in London, Middlesex, England, in 1883, so he would have been about 33 years old when the coin above was minted, and no older than 35 when the engraving was done. (We can date the engraving to between 1916- the host coin's date- and 1918- when the RFC was absorbed into the RAF.) Arthur Perry married a woman named Edith in 1914 and his RFC appointment was as a sailmaker, so he would have worked on repairing the fabric that covered the aircraft of the time.

Below is a period photograph of a Royal Flying Corps repair shop, from the Imperial War Museum collection. I tried finding a picture of an RFC sailmaker at work, but most of the pictures I saw of fabric-on-frame work being done was from the factories, with largely women workers. I saw some references to one IWM photo collection that sounded interesting, but it isn't online. Interestingly- but probably only coincidentally due to the spelling variance- that collection was under thename "PARRY, ARTHUR".