1936 Texas State Centennial The Progress Laundry Medal Metal Arts Co. 32mm Composition unsure? Gilt obverse or Bimetallic (bronze/copper nickel) I suspect the latter. An Obverse with Sam Houston on horseback and a Lone Star of Texas with his name within. I have seen other beat up medals with this obverse but with a different reverse. One I recall, was for Alamo Downs, a horse race track. For awhile this was the only one I had found. Later I saw a few but they have different letters in the small block on the reverse under the 1911 - 1936 dates. Mine has an S Others I have seen since have A, E, P, and R. The front appears gilt with a little loss or wear, and the reverse is a silver color. It celebrates The Progress Laundry's Silver 25th Anniversary, having a business in both Waco and Dallas and was owned by D.P Wallace.
1936 Texas Centennial Souvenir Of Texas Token Possibly an amusement token that is about the size of a US nickel. There were two different Expositions in Texas in 1936 and in 1937, they are named The 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition and the 1937 Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition. Both were held at Fair Park in Dallas. The Texas Centennial Exposition ran from June 6th to November 29th of 1936 and celebrated Texas' 100th year of independence from Mexico. The 1937 Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition ran from June 12th to October 31st and promoted Texas as an emerging center of economic and cultural development bridging the two Americas. The 1936 Centennial Expo was the more popular of the two events, drawing almost three times as many visitors as the 1937 Greater Texas and Pan-American Exposition. The whole state celebrated The Centennial in Texas style, so this may not have had anything to do with the expositions. Then again, it could have been used specifically for an attraction at one or both in an arcade. I do not know. I just had to have it since I have several 1936 Texas Centennial medals or tokens already and a few tickets.
1969 63mm .999 California Bicentennial medal 4.5 oz .999 silver Medallic Art Co This medal prompted me to make a set of four since I bought it shipped for $16.44 per troy oz .999. in Sept of 2018. It came with a large bronze version and another medal included in that price shipped. Can't beat that! 1969 California Bicentennial Medallic Art Co. smaller medal 28 grams - 38 mm .999 silver 1969 California Bicentennial Large Bronze medal A large 63mm boxed brass colored medal with a grizzly bear that somewhat resembles that of the California Jubilee Commemorative Half Dollar in an Art Deco style design. There were Silver medals made in this size, as well as a smaller bronze and silver medal. 1969 California Bicentennial Bronze Medallic Art Co smaller medal A companion medal to the large bronze medal
Nice Token thread here, amazing how the hobby of Token collecting has grown over the years. You can see it in the prices, especially on ebay! Here's a Lyon's 1850's Token, six stars above Liberty, rarity is R4! https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1382551
1967 Boston Tea Party National Commemorative Society Franklin Mint Sterling Silver Medal This Proof Boston Tea Party Silver Medal was designed and commissioned by the National Commemorative Society and struck by the Franklin Mint of 0.925 Sterling Silver and possesses an actual silver weight of 0.77885 Troy ounces. The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston on December 16, 1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as Indians, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company. They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution. The Tea Party became an iconic event of American history, and since then other political protests such as the Tea Party movement have referred to themselves as historical successors to the Boston protest of 1773. John Adams and many other Americans considered tea drinking to be unpatriotic following the Boston Tea Party. Tea drinking declined during and after the Revolution, resulting in a shift to coffee as the preferred hot drink. I have two of these My 1954 Topps Scoop No 28 Boston Tea Party
You know there was an Annapolis Tea Party too! Burning of the Peggy Stewart and yes there's a medal,and book. Search ebay for both. September 17 1774
1975 Erie Canal So-called Half Dollar Heraldic Art Medal The New York Legislature wanted a canal across New York to boost trade and commerce and 7 million dollars was granted for the construction of the canal. The Erie Canal opened in 1825. The canal connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and through this waterway to the Atlantic Ocean. The canal was opened by Governor DeWitt Clinton who is credited as the force behind the canal and its construction. The Erie Canal was sometimes called "Clinton's Big Ditch". The waterway today referred to as the Erie Canal is quite different from the nineteenth-century Erie Canal. More than half of the original Erie Canal was destroyed or abandoned at the time of construction of the New York State Barge Canal in the early 20th century. The sections of the original route remaining in use, mostly west of Syracuse, were widened significantly, with bridges over the canal rebuilt and locks replaced. I have crossed the Erie Canal draw bridge on my way to Lake Ontario many times in Albion NY. The first time I crossed it I was surprised at how narrow it was at that point and how close to the water the drawbridge was. As a kid in school, learning about the great canal, I expected something much bigger. But in the 1820's and the tools hard workers used to build it, this was an amazing project. I've got an old mule and her name is Sal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
I did not know that. Thank you! Looking now, Late edit: Ooooo expensive! Great history though, someday I might get lucky on a sleeper.
1915 Panama Pacific Exposition Big Lucky Penny Souvenir (about 3 inches in diameter) The Tower of Jewels was the central building at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the 1915 world's fair held in San Francisco, California. Designed by architect Thomas Hastings, of the firm of Carrère and Hastings, the combination triumphal arch-and-tower was 435 feet tall. It was covered with more than 100,000 1-7/8 inch diameter Novagems, cut glass faceted "jewels", that sparkled in the sunlight, and were illuminated at night by more than fifty spotlights. Originally named just The Tower, the "appellation 'of Jewels' became an addition to the original title, after the tower was thus gorgeously arrayed." In front of the Tower, the Fountain of Energy flowed at the center of the South Gardens, flanked by the Palace of Horticulture on the west and the Festival Hall to the east. The arch of the Tower served as the gateway to the Court of the Universe, leading to the Court of the Four Seasons to the west and the Court of Abundance to the east. The Tower was a temporary structure, constructed of staff, a combination of plaster and burlap-like fiber applied over a skeleton structure of wood and steel. It was demolished following the Exposition. The Novagems that adorned the tower were removed prior to demolition, and a small brass medallion attached to each "jewel" indicating that it hung on the tower during the exposition. These jewels were individually boxed and sold for $1.00 each. Novagems fetch hundreds of dollars these days. Here's a partial ticket that you won't see very often that I have in my Worlds Fair and Expositions ephemera collection.
1939 Golden Gate International Exposition Covered Wagon to Airplane Medal 1849 to 1939 32mm Gilt Brass I believe that is the China Clipper aircraft on there. A modern plane at the time in 1939. This is an unofficial medal not seen terribly often in this good condition without being holed as it was about half the time. Junior admission tickets K 18402 and L 18402 The Golden Gate International Exposition, held at San Francisco's Treasure Island, was a World's Fair celebrating, among other things, the city's two newly built bridges. The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge opened in 1936 and the Golden Gate Bridge in 1937. The exposition opened from February 18, 1939, through October 29, 1939, and from May 25, 1940, through September 29, 1940. These are "Junior" admission tickets. Stubs still attached. I would imagine this is for a child. ___________________ With March Madness coming up, I find this interesting information. These tickets wouldn't get you into basketball games. But . . . The 1939 NCAA Basketball Tournament As part of the exposition, the California Coliseum, located near the grounds' northeast corner, hosted the Western Regional Semifinal and Final rounds of the first-ever NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament. The Coliseum, listed in NCAA guidebooks as having a capacity of 9,476, hosted two Elite Eight games and a Final Four game. The Western regional included the Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, Texas Longhorns and the Utah State Aggies. In the Regional Semifinal round (now referred to as the Elite Eight), the Ducks beat the Longhorns 56-41 and the Sooners beat the Aggies 50-39. In the Regional Final round, (first Final Four game), the Ducks beat the Sooners 55-37, advancing to the National Championship game in Evanston, Illinois. There the Ducks won the first ever national championship 46-30 against the Ohio State Buckeyes. There was also a regional third place game played in the Coliseum, which was won by the Aggies, 51-49.
1939 World’s Fair Golden Gate Exposition-San Francisco Treasure Island Lucky Penny This plated cast white metal medallion features a view of the Exposition site in San Francisco Bay with its Tower of the Sun and the Golden Gate Bridge. The souvenir medallion, manufactured for the Fair in Japan, measures 2 3/4 inches in diameter and is in excellent condition with faint traces of wear. Treasure Island, a flat, geometrically-shaped, artificial island attached to Yerba Buena Island, was built for the Exposition near where the Oakland span and the San Francisco span of the Bay Bridge join. The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the American city of San Francisco, California – the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula – to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The Frommer's travel guide describes the Golden Gate Bridge as "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world." At the time of its opening in 1937, it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world, with a main span of 4,200 feet and a total height of 746 feet. I had the pleasure of crossing this bridge in the early 1970's once in an old 1960's Oldsmobile and it was quite impressive.
Nice "spinner" green18 Super condition! Here's a sibling. 1939 New York World's Fair Trylon and Perisphere Rockefeller Center Spinner Medal The small bump on the reverse would make this a "spinner" medal. There seems to have been numerous "spinners" minted during this era and for this fair. One could hold the medal by the edge and spin it on a flat surface for a little thrill I suppose. The Trylon and Perisphere were two monumental modernistic structures designed by architects Wallace Harrison and J. Andre Fouilhoux that were together known as the Theme Center of the 1939 New York World's Fair. The Perisphere was a tremendous sphere, 180 feet in diameter, connected to the 610 foot spire-shaped Trylon. The Trylon and Perisphere became the central symbol of the 1939 World's Fair. Their images reproduced by the millions on a wide range of souvenirs, promotional items and served as the fairground's focal point. Neither structure survived after the closing of the fair, the materials were used for World War II armaments. Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres between 48th and 51st Streets in New York. Many scenes from classic movies were shot on these locations. The famous Rainbow Room and Radio City Music Hall is located here. Every year a giant Christmas Tree is lighted and there is the famous outdoor skating rink and a 15-foot statue of Atlas, the famous figure from Greek mythology who was condemned to carry the world on his shoulders as punishment for leading a war against the Olympic gods. Also in the lower plaza in a fountain is a gilt bronze statue that is an 18-foot tall, 8 ton statue of Prometheus, who brought fire to mankind by stealing it from the Chariot of the Sun. Charles C. Ebbet's iconic photograph Lunch atop a 30 Rockefeller Plaza, An art deco skyscraper was taken hundreds of feet above New York City's street during construction in the 1930's. Thousands of people found work here during The Great Depression thanks to the vision of John D. Rockefeller Jr.
1939 New York Worlds Fair Washington Medal Stacks Dealers in Coins Aluminum 29 mm Baker 737 NGC MS-63 I picked this medal because it is considerably less often seen than the typical and varied 1939 New York Worlds Fair medals with the Trylon and Perisphere. It fills the slot for the Fair in my collection. This is not an expensive medal, but it is already slabbed and worse raw examples have sold for around the same cost. So this is convenient for me. Unfortunately, One would think that there would be more historical information available for this prestigious rare coin name. I am not 100% sure, but I believe that today, Stacks Rare Coins is part of the famous Stacks Bowers, if not one and the same. When the Stacks had this medal minted for advertising at the 1939 New York Worlds Fair they were only in business a few years. In the mid 1930's Joseph and Morton Stack set out to avoid the "Old Curiosity Shoppe" image that was so typical of retail coin shops of the time. To the Stacks, the image to be projected in their first offices at 690 Sixth Avenue was one of dignity, perfected in their later uptown facility at 12 West 46th Street. ( there is a discrepancy here as the street number is 32 W 46th St on the medal.) Since 1953, this decorous, museum-like ambience has been continued in the firm's present headquarters at 123 West 57th Street, New York City. Looking at Stacks Bowers webpages, I see they have several offices world wide. One address is 123 West 57th Street. "The slab"