Picked up these two today, Never had a love token with enamel on it before. Anybody have any thoughts on the letter? The counterstamp is a fairly popular one, Houck's Panacea Baltimore, and the coin itself is nice as well, I would guess XF.
Was there one for sale out there? I randomly picked this up locally today. I was thinking the same about it being an L, I just would imagine the flag on top wouldn't be bigger then the bottom of the L.
I've seen enameled coins before, but not love tokens. Very unusual. The Houck's Panacea is a real classic American counterstamp. Relatively common, but very popular and in demand. I've seen examples sell for as much as $600-$700. I was lucky to get one years ago for about $200. One of my favorite stamps. Bruce
Who was Houck and why have Houck counterstamps become popular? Serious question. I like counterstamps and always enjoy a good @BRandM post!
As far as enamelled coins go there are quite a few enamelled love tokens. Yes rare to find them on the market as the collectors mostly from the UK and Europe never part with them. For awhile I had a enamelled collection . Notice spelled with 2 L's . Do a search on E bay CA or ebay UK using that spelling will find you more. There's also a good reference on enamelled coins with great images on these gems.
Here is a image of the reference I speak of by I W Chick It list a lot of images of enamelled coins and tokens. This copy I received right from Chuck himself is a signed copy. I'm relatively sure he has since passed. However his book may still be in print.
Jacob Houck was a pretty interesting guy, Jack. He had a patent for his panacea issued in 1833. He claimed it cured chlorea, among other things. Up until the early 1900s "medicines" weren't regulated, so wild claims were made for their effectiveness. Most had a lot of alcohol in them...including medicine for children...so they did ease the pain many times, but of course didn't cure anything. Houck actually started out as a dry goods merchant in New York in the 1820s, but moved to Baltimore probably about 1830. He also had a dry goods business there. He sold his medicines through the store, and also through other merchants. Apparently, he manufactured the panacea himself as he had a laboratory at 10 S. Charles St., at least in 1840. BTW, the cost of a bottle was $1.50, a lot of money in the day. When Jacob died in 1850, his son Henry took over the business. The panacea was heavily marketed by both Jacob and his son after Jacob's death. I'm not sure how long it was sold, but well into the 1850s at least. There are about 125 examples of "Houcks Panacea" counterstamps documented, so as counterstamps go, they're fairly common. I think the appeal is partially due to the quality and look of the stamp itself, but more because of the coins they're struck on. Most, over ninety of them, are on Half Dollars and a few on U.S. Silver Dollars. Counterstamps on old Dollars and halves are scarce if not rare, so there's a lot of appeal there. A small number are known on foreign coins, Spanish, Prussian and Brazilian issues. All these are impressive coins in their own right. For these reasons, and others, Houck's stamps are classics and avidly collected...and expensive. Bruce
My pleasure, Jack. I was going to post a picture of my example, but just realized I don't have one. I'll have to look it up do so. Bruce
Great counter stamped coin easj3699. I don't mean to be critical if it, but why are there lines radially coming off of the stars? Metal flow?
I have noticed more than one 2012 P Denali NP Early Releases NGC MS 67 quarters on Ebay that were selling for a high price. Someone is asking $99.99 each for two of them right now. Am I missing something...??? I don't think they are worth more than $5.00. Are they just fishing...?
