Trade Dollar "Love Token"

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by C-B-D, Jan 4, 2018.

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  1. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    Bought this at the Winter FUN show today. Neat piece! No clue what it's worth, but had to have it.
    DSCN1598-horz.jpg
     
    C-B-D, Jan 4, 2018
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    Stevearino, Browns Fan, Nyatii and 13 others like this.
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  3. Jwt708

    Jwt708 Well-Known Member

    That's very cool!
     
    Jwt708, Jan 4, 2018
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  4. CoinBreaux

    CoinBreaux Well-Known Member

    Neat Piece! Did the dealer have any other love tokens?
     
    CoinBreaux, Jan 4, 2018
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  5. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    He had one other. A 1884 Morgan in a soldered holder with the reverse side ornate carving with 3 initials. This one had more info and was older with classic script writing. Also, this one was original and the Morgan one was polished.
     
    C-B-D, Jan 4, 2018
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  6. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    C-B-D, Jan 4, 2018
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  7. Kirkuleez

    Kirkuleez 80 proof

    I can’t see a love token without looking up the name. Looking around, I couldn’t find any images of people that could be her, but I found this. The time seems about right. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9269112
     
    Kirkuleez, Jan 4, 2018
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  8. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    Amazing. I was just thinking... she had the obverse lathed off this coin when it was GEM BU, then her Papa carried it to work in his pocket everyday for 40 years.... Just fantastic.
     
    C-B-D, Jan 4, 2018
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  9. H8_modern

    H8_modern Attracted to small round-ish art

    I would have taken it home too. Very nice.
     
    H8_modern, Jan 4, 2018
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  10. Burton Strauss III

    Burton Strauss III Brother can you spare a trime? Supporter

    Of course, if that's the right grave, then why didn't the wife and/or Clara choose to be buried with Papa? What's the rest of the story?
     
    Burton Strauss III, Jan 4, 2018
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  11. CircCam

    CircCam Victory

    That's a very special piece. I see the sentimental value being Really appealing to the right buyer.
     
    CircCam, Jan 4, 2018
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    C-B-D likes this.
  12. Santinidollar

    Santinidollar Supporter! Supporter

    Cool!
     
    Santinidollar, Jan 5, 2018
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  13. serafino

    serafino Well-Known Member

    Beautiful love token. Does anybody know how jewelers engraved those coins. Back in 1877 I don't think they had electric engravers
     
    serafino, Jan 5, 2018
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  14. SorenCoins

    SorenCoins Well-Known Member

    Sweet! Lovely coin, I as well would've taken it home had I been at FUN!
     
    SorenCoins, Jan 5, 2018
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  15. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    Great piece!

    As far as @Kirkuleez's ID goes, that's often about as good as you can hope for. The middle initial helps narrow things down in this case, since Clara Howard's first and last name were both pretty common. If it weren't for findagrave.com, I often wouldn't have found the backstories of some of the folks on my love tokens. It's really fun when you can find a photo of them [*1] [*2], or a colorful news article. [*1] [*2]
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2018
    lordmarcovan, Jan 5, 2018
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  16. aardwolf

    aardwolf New Member

    it's really wonderful coin!!
     
    aardwolf, Jan 5, 2018
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  17. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan 48-year collector Moderator

    These were done by hand. It's largely a lost art. Yes, there are still some extremely skilled engravers out there today - and some of them make exceptional "hobo" carvings on coins - but that kind of hand crafsmanship is mostly a thing of the past.

    Having a Trade dollar for the host coin is cool, too. Check the edge and rims carefully for hidden seams, to see if it's maybe a box dollar. That would add to the value considerably. A lot of Trade dollars got the "box dollar" treatment and were made into lockets and such. These are also sometimes referred to as "opium dollars" by collectors, for the hidden compartment inside them, though their supposed use for smuggling opium is probably more an apocryphal "urban legend" than fact. Most were lockets, and the "opium" legend got attached to pieces which had lost the original photographs they once contained.

    Check out the 1625 Bavarian "box thaler" that a friend of mine found. That was a really cool bonus discovery!
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2018
    lordmarcovan, Jan 5, 2018
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  18. C-B-D

    C-B-D Well-Known Member

    Alas, no seam on mine. I like it better, however, as a solid coin.
     
    C-B-D, Jan 5, 2018
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  19. Dougmeister

    Dougmeister Well-Known Member

    I always get different answers from people on how much these are worth; it seems to be highly dependent on the mood of the buyer and how much it is worth to *them*.
     
    Last edited: Jan 5, 2018
    Dougmeister, Jan 5, 2018
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  20. willieboyd2

    willieboyd2 First Class Poster

    At that time people used pocket watches and frequently had the cases engraved.

    Many jewelers had engravers among their employees, including Tiffany's of New York.

    Some engravers made love tokens, either for customers or privately.

    :)
     
    willieboyd2, Jan 5, 2018
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  21. Treashunt

    Treashunt The Other Frank


    interesting, since you didn't buy it, what was he asking for it?
     
    Treashunt, Jan 5, 2018
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