I don't know when your piece was made but looks to be pre-Civil War. Troemner started in business in 1844 in Philadelphia as the Henry Troemner Co. When he died in 1873 , his wife, Catherine, and two sons continued the business. Believe it or not, it remained in the family until 1955 when it incorporated and became Troemner Inc. They're still in business today in Thorofare, NJ not far from their original factory in Philadelphia. They manufacture scales, weights, provide calibration services, etc. An interesting story and a great token. Bruce
Nice, Frank! Looks like Lady Liberty is ready to go out on the town. She's got a fancy set of earrings on, her hair's all curled up, and she's got her own personal bodyguard sitting on the reverse. Now, about the pipe...has to kick that nasty habit. Not good if she's looking for a second date. Unusual counterstamps. Even the pipe's different than what you usually see. Bruce
Now that's what I call first-rate railroad exonumia, dwhiz. Beautiful workmanship with a wonderful look. Bruce
Bought these outside the British Museum in August 1986, at a "Money" exhibition. The mint has an interesting gallery at http://www.bigburymint.com/ ...
Fresh off the anvil, too! They were hammering 'em right outside the building. From the looks of their website, they've moved on to grander things.
LOVE the set, but most of all the medallion with the OWL on it, as I collect owls... I went to their website, but could not find that set there... Disappointing...
Lawrence Brown's British Historical Medals contains a writeup on temperance society medals which were common in the UK during the 1800's. Generally, they were pierced and worn to show sympathy with the temperance movement. Volume I of Brown's work (pg. 395) contains a few examples of medals that were not pierced but often encased and worn suspended with a ribbon. Here's an unlisted example by J. Taylor of Birmingham, c1840. It resembles white metal and is housed in a brass ring with glass lunettes. At 70 grams, I would have found it a bit clunky to wear around!
Love the medal, yarm. The bezel is special too with the fancy edge engraving. It does look to be white medal or possibly pewter. I always liked off-medal tokens and medals, a step above the common brass and copper pieces in my opinion. I can't even imagine wearing something so big and heavy as that, but apparently it was worn. The scenes depicted on the reverse(?) are interesting as well. The rewards of sobriety as opposed to the suffering family of the alcoholic. Bruce
Civil War Tokens are as Exonumia as you can get from US mfr.'s. Found this possibly 1st Ever Political Pin Back with a front hook on a 34 Star Shield and conjectured that it must have been made for the Lincoln CW Era holed tokens and/or Daguerreotype Medals to be suspended from. I've never found another on ebay since buying it in Dec. 2003. The Lincoln And Liberty CW Medal is from my collection, as well. This is the Full MEDAL Jacket. ( ^ ;
Thanks. I'm happy to have found them both on Ebay. The Shield Pinback and the Lincoln Medal/CWT were purchased separately. The Medal is a CWT 133-458k in the raw MS63 range, IMO. Ebay won in '05, <$50. CWTGUY on ebay posted an NGC graded MS64, tagged for $850 in '07. Except for the gold plating being worn, the Pinback might be considered MS, too, w/one known to be available, by me. Won from Ebay in '03 If this is the Only one left of the '1st' Political pinbacks, who knows? Your a dealer. What do you think each of mine should be worth?
I don't think the "worth" is really relevant, even if 100 dealers would "appraise" this set. After all, worth is a very loosely used word, since once bought it is worthless until someone else wants to buy it and names the price he is willing to pay, or if placed in auction, the "worth" would be what the highers bidder is willing to pay, so the price it cost you is irrelevant once you have bought it. Nevertheless, and regardless of its "worth", I think these are magnificent pieces, and you are very lucky to have them in your collection. If I ever run across these, and the price would be right for me, I would definitely entertain the possibility of buying them for my little & humble Lincoln collection.