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<p>[QUOTE="lordmarcovan, post: 2583901, member: 10461"]<font face="Georgia"><i>I believe I have now reposted almost all of my old </i><a href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.aspx?catid=26&threadid=953536&enterthread=y" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.aspx?catid=26&threadid=953536&enterthread=y" rel="nofollow"><i>"Oddball" collection</i></a><i>. Are you relieved? LOL. So I'm probably done. At least for a </i><b>little </b><i>while, until I restart my exonumia collection and put it on my </i><a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-holey-coin-vest-and-holey-gold-hat.286762/#post-2573708" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-holey-coin-vest-and-holey-gold-hat.286762/#post-2573708"><i>"Holey Coin Hat"</i></a><i>, that is!</i></font></p><p><i><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></i></p><p><i><font face="Georgia">This one did get <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/world-war-i-love-token-on-1916-french-franc-from-a-fallen-canadian-soldier-to-his-mother.286034/#post-2561533" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/world-war-i-love-token-on-1916-french-franc-from-a-fallen-canadian-soldier-to-his-mother.286034/#post-2561533">its own thread</a>. (I was sort of hoping to earn a homepage "feature" with this but interestingly, my <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/highlights-of-my-2013-metal-detecting-week-in-england.287138/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/highlights-of-my-2013-metal-detecting-week-in-england.287138/">2013 England metal detecting finds</a> thread was the one that unexpectedly became my first "featured" thread here.)</font></i></p><p><i><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></i></p><p><i><font face="Georgia">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, <a href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/diggers-diary-the-arcadius-anomaly-repost-from-one-of-my-old-treasurenet-threads.287141/" class="internalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.cointalk.com/threads/diggers-diary-the-arcadius-anomaly-repost-from-one-of-my-old-treasurenet-threads.287141/">one of my detecting finds</a>, is going to be offered to a museum here in Georgia.) ~RWS/"LM"</font></i></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>"Bertha's Boy": World War I love token on 1916 French franc, from a fallen Canadian soldier to his mother</b></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-coin.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><a href="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-obv.png" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-obv.png" rel="nofollow">Larger obverse picture</a></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><a href="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-rev.png" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-rev.png" rel="nofollow">Larger reverse picture</a></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Host coin: </b>1916 French 1-franc piece, KM844.1, .835 silver/.1342 oz., 23 mm. </font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Obverse:</b> original French "Sower" design, unaltered. </font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><b>Reverse: </b>"1 Franc" and olive branch planed off, date and legends intact, re-engraved "Bertha / V. Shaver / Montreal / Canada" in script. </font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia">Ex-"pondcollections" (eBay), 2/9/2016.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia">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.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia">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.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia">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.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia">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.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia">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.</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/HaroldClintonShaver.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><a href="http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/497777" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/497777" rel="nofollow">Data source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial</a></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia">(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.)</font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/HCSdatasheet.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><br /></font></p><p><font face="Georgia"><a href="http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/searches/soldierDetail.asp?Id=31923" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/searches/soldierDetail.asp?Id=31923" rel="nofollow">Data source: Canadian Great War Project</a></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="lordmarcovan, post: 2583901, member: 10461"][FONT=Georgia][I]I believe I have now reposted almost all of my old [/I][URL='http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.aspx?catid=26&threadid=953536&enterthread=y'][I]"Oddball" collection[/I][/URL][I]. Are you relieved? LOL. So I'm probably done. At least for a [/I][B]little [/B][I]while, until I restart my exonumia collection and put it on my [/I][URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/my-holey-coin-vest-and-holey-gold-hat.286762/#post-2573708'][I]"Holey Coin Hat"[/I][/URL][I], that is![/I][/FONT] [I][FONT=Georgia] This one did get [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/world-war-i-love-token-on-1916-french-franc-from-a-fallen-canadian-soldier-to-his-mother.286034/#post-2561533']its own thread[/URL]. (I was sort of hoping to earn a homepage "feature" with this but interestingly, my [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/highlights-of-my-2013-metal-detecting-week-in-england.287138/']2013 England metal detecting finds[/URL] 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, [URL='https://www.cointalk.com/threads/diggers-diary-the-arcadius-anomaly-repost-from-one-of-my-old-treasurenet-threads.287141/']one of my detecting finds[/URL], is going to be offered to a museum here in Georgia.) ~RWS/"LM"[/FONT][/I] [FONT=Georgia] [B]"Bertha's Boy": World War I love token on 1916 French franc, from a fallen Canadian soldier to his mother[/B] [IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-coin.png[/IMG] [URL='http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-obv.png']Larger obverse picture[/URL] [URL='http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/LT-1916-BerthaVShaver-003703-rev.png']Larger reverse picture[/URL] [B]Host coin: [/B]1916 French 1-franc piece, KM844.1, .835 silver/.1342 oz., 23 mm. [B]Obverse:[/B] original French "Sower" design, unaltered. [B]Reverse: [/B]"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. [IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/HaroldClintonShaver.png[/IMG] [URL='http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/497777']Data source: Canadian Virtual War Memorial[/URL] (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.) [IMG]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/HCSdatasheet.png[/IMG] [URL='http://www.canadiangreatwarproject.com/searches/soldierDetail.asp?Id=31923']Data source: Canadian Great War Project[/URL][/FONT][/QUOTE]
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