Let's see your exonumia!

"Over the Garden Wall": Whimsical love token engraving on 1876 Seated Liberty dime



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Host coin: 1876 USA Seated Liberty dime.
Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered except for some wear-related scratches.
Reverse: "OVER THE GARDEN WALL / " R (G?) E. C.", (fox? cat?) leaping over stone wall in pursuit of another animal whose tail can be seen, dog chasing bird below.

Ex- "acsb-rich", eBay, 11/25/2015.

This is a great pictorial love token, though I don't know what the "Over the Garden Wall" reference is about. The engraver, despite a folksy style, had some obvious skill. At first I thought he or she had blundered the initials, but looking more closely, it seems they're deliberately done in a "furry" font, perhaps in some further reference to animals. The seller described this vignette as a cat chasing a mouse over the wall. Cat that may be, but it also might be a fox, and the creature it is chasing (whose tail can be seen on the opposite side of the wall) certainly isn't a mouse.

Though I already had duplicate Seated dime love tokens in my type set, I couldn't resist adding this one, too. (For what it's worth, we had three dogs, eight cats, and two guinea pigs at the time I bought this, so we do like our critters, and my wife and daughter, who are normally not much impressed by coins, did appreciate this piece.)

This was formerly part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set.

 

"Charley Greets the Dawn": Pictorial love token on 1883 Seated Liberty dime



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Host coin: 1883 USA Seated Liberty dime.
Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered.
Reverse: "Charley" in script above ornamental diagonal band, landscape with sunrise behind a mountain lake.

Ex- "yoyolz", eBay, 11/03/2015.

This is a nice well-executed pictorial landscape. Most of my original writeup on it over on Collectors Universe was about my collecting habits at the time, rather than the piece itself, so since that commentary is now outdated, so I'll just repost the coin itself here. I have since sold it, but it was a nice piece.

This was formerly part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set.

 

"Jennie by the Seaside": Pictorial love token on 1890 Seated Liberty dime



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Host coin: 1890 USA Seated Liberty dime.
Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered.
Reverse: "Jennie" in cursive script above ornamental diagonal band, sunburst above, seascape/beach scene with curiously slanted buildings, sailboat, and birds below.

Ex- "ridgecoin1", eBay, 11/03/2015.

This is a nice seascape love token with some whimsically naive yet well-executed engraving. I bought this piece at the same time as I acquired another landscape dime with the name "Charley" on it. "Charley" featured a sunrise scene and had a similar diagonal band in the design, though the two pieces were obviously carved by different artists at different times.

Speaking of which, in my Collectors Universe posting about this coin, an amazing and almost eerie coincidence emerged. Member "abitofthisabitofthat" posted another "Jennie" love token with the very same name and spelling and even the very same design! Which makes one wonder if they weren't once owned by the same Jennie, though the engraving styles differ. (His was more proficiently engraved than mine, though mine above does have a nice folksy style.) Perhaps Jennie lost one and commissioned another artist to engrave the second one as a replacement? Or perhaps this was a "stock design" used by artists at the time (they did that a lot), and the two "Jennie" names were just pure coincidence. This was an intriguing enough mystery that both coins were featured in Tom Delorey's cover article about love tokens in the February, 2016 issue of COINage magazine.

Here is the other Jennie that "abitofthisabitofthat" posted on Collectors Universe. Amazing similarity, eh? Much better done than my piece above, but obviously all the same design elements, same name, same spelling. How cool is that?



The first coin above was part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set.

I have since sold it, but kept a copy of the magazine in which it appeared.

 

"The Greene Swan": Pictorial love token on 1892 Barber dime



Host coin: 1892 USA Barber dime.
Obverse: original Barber Liberty head design, unaltered.
Reverse: swan facing left with long-stalked plant at right, "L. GREENE" below.

Ex-"coinsandcuriosities1" (eBay), 1/22/2016.

While this isn't an exceptional love token, it's definitely not bad, and it's a pictorial with reasonably competent engraving. Considering it cost me less than 22 bucks, that's not bad at all for a pictorial love token; it's closer to the price you'd expect to pay for a more generic monogrammed piece on a Seated dime. These days, it's hard to get any pictorial love token for less than 50 bucks. Furthermore, Barber dimes are slightly less common as love token hosts than Seated dimes, though within the Barber series, the first-year issues of 1892 like this one are often seen.

This was formerly part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set.

Sadly, I never got around to making better pictures of it before I sold it in the last purge.

 

Yes, undoubtedly. I'm not sure exactly how it would've been attached, but there was almost certainly a little knob handle attached to the obverse so the piece could be used as a seal; perhaps a wax seal. (In fact, if you look in the picture, there are traces of what might be old sealing wax in the recesses of the engraved design. Click one of the larger images and look inside the leaves on the branch the eagle is holding.)

That little "divot" on Lady Liberty's ear is is no doubt where the handle was once attached.

 

"The Helmsman": Modern (ca. 2016) hobo carving on 1900 Barber dime, by artist David HJ He



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Host coin: 1900 USA Barber dime.
Obverse: 19th century sea captain gazing left, with windswept hair, at ship's helm, artist's signature "David He" below, original outer legends and date of host coin left intact.
Reverse: original Barber wreath design, unaltered, some old marks.

Purchased from the artist, username "david-art" (eBay), 7/18/2016. Artist is Member RM1463 of the Original Hobo Nickel Society. This piece his edition #16116.

I love this salty old sea dog character with his craggy countenance, fiercely determined expression, and impressive eyebrows, as he sails into the teeth of a gale. I'm not sure why he has a sheriff's star on his coat, but that's just a neat little extra detail. He reminds me of Captain Ahab in Moby Dick.

I was an underbidder on David He's "Fisherman", done on a 1908 Barber quarter, which sold for $202.55 on 7/17/2016. But that disappointment was soothed when I won this piece on a Barber dime for less than 1/3 the price. I think the carving on this one is almost as nice as the "Fisherman" piece. This is certainly a talented modern artist.

This piece was formerly part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set, and the first modern "hobo" carving I successfully bid on. The market for modern carvings, somewhat surprisingly to me, a lot hotter than for the old 19th century carvings. But the modern artists are often extremely proficient and creative, and have more sophisticated tools at hand. (Though many of them do work the old-fashioned way.)

 

"Grand Pretensions": "W.H. Vanderbilt" carved on 1826 Capped Bust half dollar



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Host coin: 1826 USA Capped Bust half dollar.
Obverse: unaltered except for "W.H. Vanderbilt" graffito in left obverse field.
Reverse: original eagle design, unaltered.

Ex- "lbandrc" (eBay)

Is it really possible this coin once belonged to famous 19th century railroad tycoon William Henry Vanderbilt (1821-1885)?

Sure, it's possible.

Is it probable? Not very.

But even if the engraving is a fantasy, it could be an old fantasy, from his lifetime. He was very rich and famous, after all, so anyone with a bit of time on their hands could’ve carved his name into a coin and perhaps concocted some crazy story or scheme to go with it. Or I’ll admit it’s even possible that somebody in more recent times did the same thing. My personal suspicions are that the carving is old, but let’s just say I’m not convinced the coin had anything to do with W.H. Vanderbilt personally.

But considering I acquired this piece for about 1/3 less than the regular G4 price of an 1826 Bust half dollar, I saw no reason at all not to include it in my Oddball collection.

You must admit it's intriguing. Fantasy love token? I'm OK with that.

Real Vanderbilt relic from his early days? Wow, wouldn't that be neat!

Either way, I was happy with it, though this piece has since gone on to reside in a good friend's collection.

This was formerly part of my old Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set.

 

That's a cool-looking jeton.

 

"Died on the Train": Mourning token inscribed "L. Frank Gray/July 1st 1878" on 1858 Seated Liberty half dollar



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Host coin: 1858 USA Seated Liberty half dollar.
Obverse: original Seated Liberty design, unaltered.
Reverse: "July 1st/L. Frank Gray/1878." inscription, with name in Old English lettering, ornamental border around rim.

Ex-"10michaelelps951", eBay, 10/29/2015.

This love token was only my second purchase towards a new love token/engraved/counterstamped type set endeavor. I was (and still am, as of this post) primarily seeking pictorial love tokens, which this is not. However, the engraving style is nice, and I was intrigued by the presence of a full date (month, day, year) and mostly full name, thinking that might make it possible to discover some of the history behind this piece.

I had assumed this was a birth/christening gift, but after finalizing the deal with the seller I did some quick web searching, and discovered that an L. Frank Gray in fact died of consumption (tuberculosis) on that day, while traveling on a train. So unless there is some other intersection of the same name and date in history, it would appear that I fortuitously nailed the history of this piece down. It is a mourning token!

Interestingly, I also found some newspaper obituaries and details on his final resting place online. It doesn't get any better than this. This is one thing that can be amazing about love tokens- you can pin so much more of their history down than you could with a regular coin!

Syracuse Sunday Times, July 7, 1878





The findagrave.com memorial contained a treasure trove of geneaological and historical information, and a picture of Mr. Gray's tombstone.

(It seems the researcher has herself now joined him in the hereafter, so I must posthumously thank her.)

This piece was once part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set.

 

Pill-Poppin' Sam/Before the Big Binge": 1773 love token on British King George III halfpenny



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Host coin: British KM-601 halfpenny of George III (ca. 1770-1773).
Obverse: original design with bust of George III right, unaltered.
Reverse: hand-engraved inscription "Sam / Jessop / 1773" within wreath, with flourishes and ornamental border.

I've long liked these 18th century copper love tokens, but because I'm not alone in that regard, prices on them seem to have gotten a bit stiffer and have mostly risen into low 3-figure territory these days. I had this one in my eBay watch list for a good while, and when the seller reduced the price by about 40% (to just a hair over $50), I pounced.

I would have been happy with it at that price, but as has happened a few times before, when I got around to doing a little research, I found an interesting backstory to the coin which made it even more valuable to me.

The seller had transcribed the name on this piece as "Pam Jefson", which is an understandable mistake, but a mistake nonetheless. It clearly says "Sam", and when one takes the old-style long S into account, it is plain that the name is "Sam Jessop".

And that is where the story gets intriguing, for there was a Samuel Jessop of Heckington, Lincolnshire, England (b. ca. 1753, d. 1817) who was the subject of several contemporary press reports. It seems he got himself into some legal trouble, as he was a hypochondriac and a drug addict with prodigious appetites, whose incredibly excessive pill-popping got him into serious money trouble. He ran up a bill of 787 pounds, 18 shillings, which was a truly staggering amount of money at the time- the equivalent of many tens of thousands of dollars today-all to feed his habit! So societal ills like "prescription drug abuse" are nothing new.

They were hard on debtors in those days, so perhaps Sam was lucky that his case was settled for 450 pounds, which was still a fortune. He died only two months after the verdict, in May 1817, aged 64 (or 65, by some sources). The case was widely reported in the press, and revisited many times in the 19th century and even as late as 1905, no doubt due to its sensational aspects. By the later accounts, his name had morphed into "Jessup", but contemporary accounts spell it "Jessop", just as it is on this coin.

Of course it's entirely possible that there was more than one "Sam Jessop" in England in the late 18th century, but given that the general time period, place, and name fit, I'd say there is a good chance this love token was once owned by the infamous pill popper in his younger, healthier days. Samuel Jessop would have been about twenty years old in 1773 when the engraving was done on the reverse of this coin. Was it a gift from a sweetheart in his youth? If so, one wonders what happened, since he was described as a "bachelor of opulence" at the time of the trial in 1817. Did he never marry? Was he widowed? Who gave him the love token? Was it still in his possession as a keepsake as he neared his tragic, sordid end? We'll never know all these answers, but I think you'll agree with me that the backstory makes this love token all the more fascinating.




The New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 7, 1817 (source of quote in image above)
The Cabinet of Curiosities, 1824 (somewhat longer article)
"The Pill Devourer" (modern British Library "Untold Lives" blog entry)

This love token was once one of the finer pieces in my old Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set. I have since sold it to a good friend who collects this sort of material, but hopefully he will hold on to it for a while so I can have future "visitation rights".

 

"Weird Wellington & The Penguin Lady": Bizarre carving on 1811-13 Canadian "Wellington" halfpenny



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Host coin: Undated (ca. 1811-1813) pre-confederation Canadian "Marshal Wellington" halfpenny token (Breton-971?), large leaves variety.
Obverse: bust of Field Marshal Wellington with front outline of profile recarved.
Reverse: seated Brittania altered into bizarre bird-headed woman with small animal inverted on her lap.

Ex-"savoyspecial", Collectors Universe, 3/19/2015.

This was a dirt-cheap impulse buy that was so bizarre I just couldn't pass it up. Hold on to your hats, now... it cost me the truly astonishing sum of six whole dollars! Haha. Could YOU have passed it up for that price?

Boy, "Penguin Lady" is spooky, isn't she? How'd you like to run up on her in a dark alley? Brr... there's some nightmare fuel. Look at that sharp beak... those muscular arms. And that poor creature in her lap, which she appears to be... spanking? Petting? Eviscerating? And what the heck is that critter, anyway? I think I'll call it "The ArmadilloFox".

This piece was one of the earliest additions to my old Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set, and a vivid reminder of how much truly fascinating historical material can be found in the exonumia category for the price of a good hamburger or less. Small wonder I'm a love token enthusiast. You might say I love love tokens! But what the original intention behind this deliciously strange piece of folk art was, we can only guess.

 

"Swiss Frog": Pictorial love token carving on 1885-B Swiss 20-rappen coin



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Host coin: 1885-B Switzerland 20-rappen.
Obverse: original Liberty Head design, unaltered.
Reverse: "20" numeral planed off and re-engraved with a picture of a frog, original wreath design and mintmark unaltered.

Ex- "chullie" (eBay), 2/14/2015.

"Swiss Frog". Does this title remind you of an unappealing chocolate candy in a Monty Python sketch? (If you actually understood that obscure reference, congratulations. Like me, you are over the hill and have questionable comedic tastes.) I have always associated frogs with more temperate or tropical places than Switzerland, but I suppose there must be frogs there, too. In fact, I guess there must be frogs just about everywhere, except maybe the most frozen polar regions.

But why did someone painstakingly hand-engrave one on the back of this coin? Obviously it was a love token, though there are no initials or monogram on it. The hole indicates it was used in jewelry. We'll never know for sure, but perhaps the answer was, "Why not? Just... because."

Why did I feel the urge to add this strange piece to my collection? There the answer is more certain. "Why not? Just... because." I like strange pieces.

And look at the engraving, here. This was very nice work.

This piece was formerly part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set. A friend who saw it when I first posted it on Collectors Universe said he wanted it if I ever chose to sell it, so when I purged and restarted that collection in 2016 I sold it to him.

PS- Oh- here's that Monty Python "Crunchy Frog" sketch I alluded to earlier. Enjoy.

And don't worry- all frogs used in the Whizzo Chocolate Company's confections were cleansed in finest quality spring water before being "lightly killed". LOL. (No actual frogs seen in video.)

 

"One... WHAT?!?": Risqué alteration on reverse of 1852 Braided Hair large cent



I have censored the above images hopefully to be within full compliance of forum rules. If you're a grownup and wish to see the other pictures, click away, offsite, but be forewarned. (They're not that bad, but definitely naughty, as you can likely guess even without peeking.)

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Host coin: 1852 Braided Hair large cent.
Obverse: orginal Braided Hair Liberty head design, unaltered.
Reverse: risqué alteration of "E" in "CENT" to a "U"; engraving incomplete.

Ex-"lotsofmotts", eBay, 7/22/2016.

It might have been the early Victorian era, but there was no shortage of raunch around. These "naughty" cent alterations were quite the cottage industry and are common enough today that you could probably complete a date set of Braided Hair cents with these risqué reverses. Maybe even a good bit of the middle-date Coronet Head cents, too.

This particular example has a better than average host coin but somewhat poorer than average (perhaps incomplete) carving. The incomplete nature of the carving on this one sort of demonstrates how they created these, however. I know that bored Civil War soldiers with lots of time on their hands in camp made some naughty carvings on coins and the huge lead Minie bullets of the period. But it's probable that a lot of this was going on well before then, back into the 18th century and even earlier. Though I've never seen an example, I'm nearly certain there must be naughty graffiti on Roman coins (and I'm not talking about the Roman spintriae brothel tokens, either.)

Also note the apparent strikethrough or planchet flaw in the right obverse field.

This piece was briefly a part of my Engraved/Counterstamped/Oddball Type Set, until I thought better of that and sold it.

 

I believe I have now reposted almost all of my old "Oddball" collection. Are you relieved? LOL. So I'm probably done. At least for a little while, until I restart my exonumia collection and put it on my "Holey Coin Hat", that is!

This one did get its own thread. (I was sort of hoping to earn a homepage "feature" with this but interestingly, my 2013 England metal detecting finds thread was the one that unexpectedly became my first "featured" thread here.)

I think this was one of my more poignant and interesting pieces. The friend to whom I sold it said he was going to donate it to the Canadian War Museum. If so, that will be at least the second if not third time one of my collection has ended up in a museum, which I think is really neat. (A fourth, one of my detecting finds, is going to be offered to a museum here in Georgia.) ~RWS/"LM"


"Bertha's Boy": World War I love token on 1916 French franc, from a fallen Canadian soldier to his mother



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Host coin: 1916 French 1-franc piece, KM844.1, .835 silver/.1342 oz., 23 mm.
Obverse: original French "Sower" design, unaltered.
Reverse: "1 Franc" and olive branch planed off, date and legends intact, re-engraved "Bertha / V. Shaver / Montreal / Canada" in script.

Ex-"pondcollections" (eBay), 2/9/2016.

World War I "trench art" pieces and love tokens are commonly found on the French 1- and 2-franc "Sower" coins of the period. This one is visually unremarkable, though the engraved script was well done. At first glance, it's not even as interesting as the "dog tag" or "ID badge" pieces that typically bear a soldier's name, service number, and/or unit.

However, I decided to research it because of the presence of a full name (first, last, and middle initial), to see if I could pin down more information about the onetime owner of this piece. It turned out I found very little about Bertha V. Shaver of Montreal, Canada, who was obviously the recipient of the love token, but through her name, I was able to determine with a reasonable amount of certainty that the engraving was commissioned by her son, Harold Clinton Shaver, who was serving with the Canadian Army Medical Service in France during the Great War.

Since the date was left intact on the host coin, we know it was engraved no earlier than 1916. Of course the war ended in November of 1918, but the life of Private Harold Shaver was tragically cut short before that, on May 20, 1918, from wounds suffered the day before in a German air raid on the hospital he was probably working in. Thus we can pretty definitively date the engraving on the coin to sometime between October of 1917, when Harold Shaver enlisted, and May 19, 1918, when he was mortally wounded.

As a further compelling detail to this poignant tale, I discovered a newspaper photograph of Harold Clinton Shaver on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial website. So this is now the second time I've been able to "put a face to the coin", and it was a young and handsome face at that.

May Harold and Bertha Shaver rest in peace, and I hope the joy of their eventual reunion in heaven eclipsed the suffering they experienced during their earthly existence.



Data source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial

(Note that there are some minor discrepancies in the sources. His death date was given as May 19th below, though that was the date of his wounding. He died on May 20th.)



Data source: Canadian Great War Project

 

Yes, this one came off eBay, though when I sold it I sold it in person, to a friend, just this Halloween.