Here's a piece I've never posted before. It's local to the area I live ,guessing that it dates late 1930's -40's. This area was where all the Liberty Ships were built. It's a company badge. The reverse reads Loss of this badge should be reported immediately to the employment bureau . A charge of 25 cents will be made if lost or not returned upon leaving the service of the company. Anyone interested pm me as I may be letting this one go.
Here's one more that may interest some collectors here, an 1941- 1945 U.S. Treasury Award. Given to those whom helped with Bond drives. I do believe the medal was struck in 1945 or post war years due to the reverse subject matter.
First one I have to share tonight is a unique fantasy piece. It's a blue acrylic 500 Poa piece from the fictional island of Ile Crescent. These were produced by the Bluewaters Mint and were inspired by the Congo 10 Francs Pope John Paul II commerative. Second one is the other Bluewaters fantasy I purchased, which is the Viinamarisaar 4.90 Euro, which is an extremely odd denomination. They also produced a 70 Euro Cents coin and a 7 Euro. It's also very thick, 6.35 millimeters to be exact. Most fantasies don't interest me, but these two really appealed to me since I like to collect unique and unusual coins/tokens. I found this at work last night. It's a plastic medallion from the Chateau Ste. Michelle winery in Washington. Not entirely sure what to classify it as, though I feel it falls under exonumia. I believe it could be a seal of authenticity that's placed under the foil on the bottle. Usually those are made of paper or gold/silver foil, not plastic. This is a So-Called-Dollar made for the Montana centennial in 1964. Its design is based on the Humbert $50 dollar coin and is probably the closet I'll get to owning the Humbert.
This is a So-Called-Dollar made for the Montana centennial in 1964. Its design is based on the Humbert $50 dollar coin and is probably the closet I'll get to owning the Humbert. View attachment 413541 View attachment 413542 [/QUOTE]
Depression era 1 and 1/2 mils tax token from Illinois. Penny included for size comparison. A Biermarke Notgeld token. Obverse and reverse are the same. Last one for this post is a Civil War token from 1863.
I've got this Chittendan C.T.A. transit token from Burlington, Vermont. About the only info I can find about it is TC-379908; Atwood-Coffee 180-E, can't find out the years it was used though. Does anyone happen to have that information?
From the look and style of it it's run can have been from the 30's to now I have no idea if they still use tokens or have moved on to the scan card type passes
S.S. JOHN W. BROWN Designed as cheap and quickly built cargo steamers, the Liberty ships formed the backbone of a massive sealift of troops, arms, materiel and ordnance to every theater of war. Two-thirds of all the cargo that left the United States during the war was shipped in Liberty ships. Two hundred of them were lost, either to enemy action or to a range of maritime mishaps such as collision, grounding, fire or sea, but there were simply so many of them that the enemy could never hope to sink enough Liberty ships to close the sea lanes, and the supplies got through. Description Class: EC2-S-C1 Type Liberty Ship Launched: September 7, 1942 At: Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland Length: 441 feet, 6 inches Beam: 57 feet Draft: 27 feet, 9 inches Displacement: 14,245 tons Gross: 7,176 tons Capacity: 8,500 long tons Armament: Three 3-inch/50 caliber guns; one 5-inch/38 caliber gun; eight 20mm guns. S.S. JOHN W. BROWN looks now almost exactly as she did toward the end of World War II. Despite her grey paint and many guns, she is not a warship but rather a merchant ship. The BROWN was built by the government and was under the control of the War Shipping Administration. This ship and her many sisters were operated under what was known as a general agency agreement, by almost 90 different American steamship companies, which were paid by Uncle Sam to manage the ships. The cargo they carried and the ports they visited were entirely controlled by the government. A Liberty ship can carry almost 9,000 tons of cargo, about the same as 300 railroad boxcars. Liberty ships carried every conceivable cargo during the war - from beans to bullets. Some, like JOHN W. BROWN, were also fitted out to carry troops as well as cargo. Around 500 soldiers at a time could be carried aboard this ship. She saw duty in many Mediterranean ports during invasions and steamed in convoys that were attacked by enemy aircraft and submarines, but she was never seriously damaged by the enemy. Launching The BROWN was launched at the Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard in Baltimore, Maryland, on September 7, 1942, Labor Day. Six Liberty ships were launched that day from various shipyards, all of them named after a labor leader. The BROWN was named after John W. Brown, a labor leader from Maine who had died in 1941. Engine The ship is powered by a reciprocating, triple-expansion steam engine, a relic from an earlier day in maritime history. The engine is fed with steam from two oil-fired boilers and drives a single, four-bladed propeller, 18 feet in diameter. Armament Like all U.S. merchant ships during World War II, JOHN W. BROWN carried defensive weapons. Her armament included a 3-inch/50 caliber gun in the bow; one 5-inch/38 caliber gun and two 3-inch/50 caliber guns in the stern; and eight 20mm anti-aircraft guns. Two of the 20mm guns flanked the 3-inch/50 bow gun, four more 20mm guns were at the corners of the flying bridge, and two 20mm guns were in elevated gun platforms on the port and starboard after deck. Since JOHN W. BROWN carried troops as well as cargo, she had a greater number of guns than was the case with merchant ships that carried cargo only. A cargo-carrying Liberty ship would typically have had one 5-inch/38 caliber gun, one 3-inch/50 caliber gun and eight 20mm guns. As with U.S. and other Allied merchant ships, the guns on JOHN W. BROWN were manned by a detachment of U.S. Navy personnel assigned to the ship. They were known as the U.S. Navy Armed Guard. All American and many Allied merchant ships carried Armed Guard gunners during the war. The gunners of JOHN W. BROWN shot down at least one enemy plane during the invasion of southern France in August 1944. Wartime Service The BROWN made 13 voyages during World War II. Her maiden voyage was to the Persian Gulf, carrying military equipment for Russia, which could only be supplied from the Persian Gulf or via convoys to Murmansk, the infamous "Murmansk run." On this voyage the BROWN proceeded through the Caribbean Ocean, through the Panama Canal, south along the western coast of South America and around Cape Horn, across the South Atlantic around the Cape of Good Hope, north along the east coast of Africa, and into the Persian Gulf. Interestingly, the BROWN sailed alone and unescorted for most of this voyage. Her route, especially the portion along the west coast of South America, was planned so as to minimize the chances of encountering enemy submarines. The BROWN returned to North America, making a stop in South America to load a cargo of bauxite, used in making aluminum. Most of the rest of the BROWN's wartime voyages were to the Mediterranean Sea, including duty during the Anzio landings. She was also a part of the invasion force of southern France during Operation Dragoon in August 1944. While in the Mediterranean, the BROWN typically spent several months moving between ports in North Africa, Italy and southern France, moving supplies, equipment and troops as needed, before finally returning to North America. On all of these voyages, the BROWN sailed in convoys. The BROWN was crewed by about 45 civilian merchant seamen and, as already noted, her guns were manned by 41 Navy Armed Guard personnel assigned to the ship. The size of the merchant marine crew varied slightly from voyage to voyage, depending on the number of troops she carried. Immediately following the war, the BROWN carried government cargoes to help rebuild war-torn Europe. Schoolship In 1946 the government loaned the BROWN to the City of New York, where she became a floating maritime high school, the only one in the United States. The ship served in that capacity from 1946 to 1982, graduating thousands of students prepared to begin careers in the merchant marine. During that time the BROWN was lovingly cared for by her students and instructors, making her reactivation by our volunteers that much easier. Restoration Acquired by Project Liberty Ship, Inc., the BROWN arrived in Baltimore to serve as a museum ship and memorial in 1988. She is the only Liberty ship on the East Coast. The BROWN has been rededicated as a memorial museum ship. She honors the memory of the shipyard workers, merchant seamen and Naval Armed Guard who built, sailed and defended the Liberty fleet. S.S. JOHN W. BROWN is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. There are some fifty old navy ships located all around our coasts as naval memorials, but only five merchant ships. With one exception, none of the naval vessels are active, steaming vessels; all are static displays. (The one exception is LST-325.) But four of the five merchant ships are living, steaming memorials, whose all-volunteer crews have returned them to operating condition in order to show visitors just how it was to operate a World War II-era merchant ship. These men and women, many of whom are themselves veterans of the shipyards, merchant marine or Armed Guard, are convinced that this is the best way to rekindle the American spirit that saw this country through the dark days of World War II. JOHN W. BROWN is a living example of how America united can accomplish any goal! Our volunteer crew (we are all volunteers - we have no paid staff) invite you to enjoy your visit aboard this historic ship and ask that you please leave the BROWN a generous donation. Your generosity will help continue the restoration process aboard this piece of living American history. For more information on The S.S. John W. Brown go to Project Liberty Ship Here http://www.ssjohnwbrown.org/ship-history Make sure you check out the 2015 Cruises aboard the Brown out of Baltimore.
Christening of the Nuclear Aircraft Carrier Enterprise September 24,1960 This is a high relief medal.