I haven't been buying lately, but recently traded a few items worth about $10 to a guy for a box of exonumia. Most of the box contained heavily corroded French and German Notgeld's, but every once in a while, one gets lucky in a junk box. The damage / hole is unfortunate, but In that box I found a DeWitt JF 1856-(?) political token. I know it is not an "1856-9" or "1856-10". I'm just trying to better nail down the attribution of this one. Also looking to see if y'all think it is "desirable" or "dreck" . . . . . One reference has similar listed as "anti-slavery" tokens, (hence the "Free Soil / Free Men / Free Speech" references) which makes it all the more interesting in my thinking. (1856) JC FREMONT 1000 / EAGLE-1080 kpb (R-5) Then I ran across this Temperance Pin. I would love to find out more information on it, if anyone knows . . . . . . . How about a British / Canadian WWII Medal? Not sure if this is silver or Cu-Ni. I can see daylight between the "coin" and the bezel. Makes me think this could have been issued without the ribbon? And then a clearly cast copy of a Van Buren Hard Times Token. The fields look "sandy" and there is a distinct "seam" around the edge. It's curious to me why someone would go through all the trouble of copying one of these. They are quite common.
That's a good catch for a junk box. The last few "boxes" I've looked at had coins that were found in a parking lot of a rock quarry.
I'd like to know where you get your junk boxes from, Z. Maybe you should call them "junque boxes". Some good stuff there for sure. Bruce
The one piece I didn't show was a Massachusetts Cent that looked pretty much like the Van Buren Hard Times Token above. I don't have photos of it because I gave it away before taking photos of these. It had a tiny COPY stamp on the reverse and an "R" stamp (reproduction) on the obverse. I traded three gun cleaning polishing clothes for these. The guy also gave me a box of numismatic books with the deal as well. One or two of them look interesting. Mostly from the 1980's or earlier, one really thick catalog by the Fuld's caught my eye. I'll get photos of those on Monday. Z
These are the "garage sale" signs in MY neck of the woods . . . . . "Roswell" isn't only in New Mexico . . . . Z
I'd watch what I buy from someone going to jail. Could be that he's selling somebody else's stuff...without them knowing it. Bruce
Used bongs, books on how to cook meth..., assorted chemicals....and a used fire extinguisher and a chard silver burn suit. Who doesn't like a neighborhood with more than 1 zillow approved drug store?
Just wondering if @johnmilton has had a chance to gander at these. I believe these are right in his wheelhouse.
Oddly enough I have never collected temperance tokens, mainly because they are not listed with the presidential tokens listed in DeWitt / Sullivan. I do have some pro and anti prohibition buttons that were issued from the ‘teens to the 1932 presidential election. Prohibition was an important issue in 1932 next to ending the Great Depression. Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt favored repealing the 18th amendment while Republican Herbert Hoover pushed for keeping it. I do not see any pictures of the “devil pin” mentioned in the OP, so I can’t comment on it. I’ll see if I have the time to post some pictures of my Prohibition buttons later. Today is a busy one for me. Right now I’m on an iPad.
Here are some of the Prohibition buttons that I have. I don't have a "devil" example. This was a major argument for Prohibition in the 'teens. It's hard to this exactly. It could be from the late '20s to the early '30s. "Who wants to be a camel?' (dry) This was very likely from the 1932 presidential campaign. This Roosevelt - Garner jugate included the word "repeal", which refers to Prohibition. If you find one these in an old trunk, you have a winner. It has sold for over $1,000. Political items dealer, Tom French, wrote an interesting booklet on the Prohibition items.
