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

I believe you are correct in that assumption. I have seen a few of these before.

I really like that one. It's a nice example. I don't know if the gilding was done "as made" or if it was an afterthought, however. None of the others I've seen were gilt, but they were all lower grade and quite worn. Yours is the highest grade example I've seen.

I wonder if they were made to loosely resemble gold sovereigns, like a lot of gaming counters of that era were. How big is it?

 

Let's wrap up the "gilt, enameled, or colorized" theme with this 1840 Napoleon funeral medal, and switch the theme to "landscapes, pastoral scenes, and city views".

 

I led you astray by discussing the gaming tokens. I think perhaps that sovereign-like temperance piece you posted might have been a later evolution of those Spade guinea-like pieces; just mimicking the sovereign rather than the guinea. Just a guess.

I like some of the seascapes on French Oceania coins.

Continuing the "landscapes, pastoral scenes, and cityscapes" theme, I will post (likely a re-post) one of my more popular pieces.

 

@PaddyB- I'm afraid I haven't a clue, but it certainly has a late 19th century appearance. Those folks look like they're dealing with hardship, and since there are what appear to be some potatoes in that basket, I wonder if it has something to do with the Irish Potato Famine? Granted, that was 1840s and not 1870s-1890s like this medal looks to me, but I wonder. What made you think it was American? I'm not disagreeing with you there- just wondering. Since so many Irish came to America because of the famine, it doesn't rule out the medal being both American and about the Irish Potato Famine.

All of this is rampant speculation, of course. It could just be a random agricultural medal that has nothing to do with the stuff I just expounded on.

Rather than being melancholy, those folks could just be praying, in hopes of a good harvest. (?)

 

Definitely taters. That pitchfork thingie stuck in the ground is what they used to harvest them, unless I am much mistaken. (Edit- yes- a "digging fork", as @coin_nut said.) So why they're praying remains unknown, but it is a "Tater Token" fer sure!

PS- I think the farmer, and maybe his wife, are wearing wooden clogs, which seems to suggest more of a continental European origin?

 

I love baobab trees. They made quite an impression on me when I lived in East Africa as a child.

 

Here is another landscape on an Austrian 10-Euro commemorative.

 

Love it! I've seen some NZ tokens of that era, but none with a kiwi. Now I want one!