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Message:: [QUOTE="lordmarcovan, post: 2692728, member: 10461"]A few cherrypicking selections from The Great Exonumia Bulk Bag (Part 1) In the summer of 2014, I bought a 12-pound sack of various exonumia items from [USER=81808]@Aethelred[/USER].  Took my time plucking through it.  It was one of those oddball "gee, I don't need this stuff but I don't see how I can lose on it" kind of deals, and I was glad I bought it.  Averaged out, this stuff ended up costing less than 10 cents per piece in bulk, so the older material (and there was LOTS of older material!) was lots of fun, and modestly profitable, too.  I guess this had been several years' accumulation of odd exonumia that walked into the brick-and-mortar shop where [USER=81808]@Aethelred[/USER] works.  I was happy to play with it. Again, there was about twelve pounds in this lot, so these pictures are only the tiniest sampling of what was in there. We'll start with a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Olympia_(C-6)" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Olympia_(C-6)" rel="nofollow">USS Olympia</a> propeller medal.  Half-dollar-ish sized.  There were two of these in that bag.  The striking was done much later than the Spanish-American War (ca. 1950s-'60s, I believe), but with metal from the original propeller(s) of the famous warship, which still exists as a National Historic Landmark. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141025-01a-OlympiaMedal.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> You've probably heard of this guy, right?  Good Luck tokens were all the rage in the interwar period.  Small wonder Lucky Lindy got featured on some of them.  This was also half-dollar-ish size.  The tiny lettering on the reverse was a Whitehead & Hoag mark, as I recall. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141025-01b-LindbergMedal.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Here is William Taft Evans' US Navy Reserve dogtag from WW2, with the chain still attached.  I never got around to looking up his service record or genealogy. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141028-01.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> So, yeah, there was oddball stuff like that in the bag, too, including inexpensive but interesting old "coin jewelry" items.  Like this Mercury dime ring.  Cheapo-cool!  Cost me less than the face value of the dime!  I mean, who cares that it's not a real gold ring, right? Flipped it on eBay.  It went for something like 12-15 bucks, as I recall, but hey, that was pure profit.  What a fun, fun bag of stuff.<img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/140510-09.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> 1926 Lincoln cent in Rundback's Jewelers (NYC) horseshoe-shaped encasement. OK, so people who collect these like 'em in better condition than this, but... for less than a dime?  Pssh!  Looked like a sweet cherrypick to me! <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/140510-06.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> WW2 OPA (Office of Price Administration) food rationing points (red & blue fiber tokens). These turn up frequently in token lots.  You might have seen 'em.  Interestingly, they have little two-letter codes on them.  I never quite figured out what those meant, but I think some people collect these by those little code letters.  I think I heard somewhere that the blue ones (are a bit scarcer? were worth more at the time?  dunno) <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/140508-01b.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Assorted Depression-era sales tax tokens.  Aluminum, plastic, fiber, and outright cardboard. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/140508-01a.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Mardi Gras doubloons and wooden nickels, circa 1960s-'70s. A friend just returned from Mardi Gras 2017 and brought me back two tokens.  They're thicker and better quality than these older ones, but still lightweight and probably aluminum.  My friend (a female coworker) was quick to explain that she did not flash her *ahem!* chesty appendages at the parade floats to get them.  (I hear that's a thing.  Never been to Mardi Gras.  Not a fan of bacchanalian behaviour. ) First two people who PM me can have one of the 2017 tokens.  They're gold colored.  The ones shown here sold on eBay, of course. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-02b.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-02c.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Another ca. 1930s Good Luck token.  Note the use of swastikas on both sides. This was struck, just before WW2, before the Nazis spoiled the swastika forever. Prior to them, it had been a good luck symbol, as you see it in this context. The swastika in the crystal ball on this piece runs counterclockwise, like the ancient Zoroastrian symbol. The one on the reverse runs clockwise, like the one the Nazis ripped off. Note the other lucky symbols. Neat piece. I found one of these while detecting, too. It was in an old park, only about an inch deep in an area that had yielded a lot of Indian cents, V-nickels, and a Barber dime or two, and the signal about blasted my ears off. In sandy soil, it was gorgeously preserved for a dug find, but is much darker brown than this one. This one could've used a little Vaseline rub and I think the 1:00 obverse scuz would've come off OK. <a href="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/Diggers%20Diary/DD-114-draft.jpg" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/Diggers%20Diary/DD-114-draft.jpg" rel="nofollow">My dug one</a> is actually in equal or better condition than this one. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-01.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Speaking of swastikas... Hm. I wonder who this guy is. Eh, probably some obscure German or Austrian dude nobody ever heard of. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie67" alt=":nailbiting:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-04.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This next one was a headscratcher for me until I did a little Googling. It is a 1916 medal featuring WW1 French general <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Gallieni" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Gallieni" rel="nofollow">Joseph Gallieni</a>.  It was created by sculptor <a href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Maillard" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Maillard" rel="nofollow">Auguste Maillard</a>. Fun find, IMHO. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-03.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Speaking of World War One and militaristic stuff, here are two from the opposite side: a pretty decent pair of German iron kriegsgeld 10-pfennig tokens. I had one of those "Vaterland" ones before, with the muscular munitions lady slinging around huge artillery shells. Cool stuff.  Iron does tend to rust, though.  These are actually in pretty decent shape for 100-year-old iron tokens. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-05.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> More German notgeld-y stuff, from roughly the same era. Whoops! There's a French spy in the mix. (The big aluminum one.) <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-06a.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-06b.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Old tool checks, I suppose. Look to be 19th century. The round one could have been overstruck on a copper coin, but if so, not a trace of the undertype remains. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-07.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This little US Mint Lincoln/Grant medalet was neat. Nice quality and high relief, too. Rather thick, but not a large-diameter piece. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141107-04.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Promotional token for the 1938 Warner Brothers movie musical <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Diggers_in_Paris" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Diggers_in_Paris" rel="nofollow">Gold Diggers In Paris</a>.  Must've been a pretty racy number by the standards of the day. <*wolf whistle*> <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie60" alt=":kiss:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /> Note that we're still in the 1930s "lucky" token phase.  This one was smaller than most, being more "quarter-ish" than "half-dollar-ish".  Brass, I think, but toned reddish-brown.  Would've no doubt had a golden color when new. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141107-03.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61cDi5FFwDL._SX385_.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Green River Whiskey, circa 1935.  Another half-dollar-sized lucky token. "The Whiskey Without Regrets". Ha! I rather doubt that. Then again, the whiskey was an inanimate liquid. It couldn't have any regrets. The people who drank the whiskey, on the other hand... they or their immediate family might've had a regret or two. I dug one of these tokens while detecting, once. No regrets about that- it was a fun find.  Not as nice as this one, of course. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141107-02.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> I think I'm about to hit the max image-per-post ceiling on this post, so we'll continue the selections from the Great Exonumia Bag in another post... (Continued below...) [/QUOTE]

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