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Message:: [QUOTE="lordmarcovan, post: 2692755, member: 10461"]A few cherrypicking selections from The Great Exonumia Bulk Bag (Part 2) Let's step back into the 1800s with some really nasty Hard Times tokens and Civil War tokens.  OK, yeah... rough.  But old.  And historical.  There was even an 1812 British token and a 1790s "Conder" token in the bag.  Also well-worn and/or beat up.  But ... again... for less than a dime apiece?  Pssh!  I'm all over that! <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141028-02a.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141028-02b.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Speaking of the Civil War, this one is a military ID badge.  A "dog tag", in other words. You could order 'em from a mailorder catalog in the mid- to late-1800s, and have your name and information engraved on those little "waves" in front of the shield. Obviously this one is still blank, and it never got engraved. Interesting that it still seems to have gotten a little bit of wear, though.  I recall seeing these somewhere before, but now I can't seem to Google up the right kind. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's 19th century, though whether it's from the Civil War or Spanish-American War or even as late as WW1; I don't know. I think WW1 is a bit late.  The Civil War is a bit early, though I do think some of these got engraved and carried by your more affluent Federal soldiers during that period.  I'd wager a Seated dime love token that these were almost certainly "a thing" during the Indian War and Spanish-American War eras, circa 1870s to 1890s.  Maybe the Phillipine Insurrection at the turn of the century, too, though probably no later than 1902-ish. <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141028-01b.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> This next one was my favorite cherrypick from the bag, because of the interesting correspondence that resulted when I sold it. It was a Morro Castle encased cent, with the host coin dated from the year of the disaster.  The reverse is a copper "shell" that fit over the coin. I've never seen another one like it.  (As the subsequent story developed, apparently neither had the expert on this stuff.) I sold this on eBay and the buyer was Deborah Whitcraft, president of the <a href="http://njmaritimemuseum.org/exhibits/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://njmaritimemuseum.org/exhibits/" rel="nofollow">New Jersey Maritime Museum</a>. When I found that out, I refunded half her money and we struck up a friendly correspondence via eBay messages. She is the person who literally <a href="http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2012/09/post_32.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2012/09/post_32.html" rel="nofollow">wrote the book</a> on the subject and is curator of the largest museum exhibit (which she sent me a signed copy of. How cool is that?) <img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141028-03.png" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> There was also a neat ca. 1890-1920 Swedish steamboat token, too.<img src="http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/lordmarcovan/141109-08.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> Gaaah... just got busy at work.  I'll have to resume this in a few days. (To be continued...)[/QUOTE]

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