Mystery Indian Token

I did try to find a photo of the medal that Eastman was awarded at the
1933 world fair, thinking it might have a similarity. I could not find that
specific medal, but other medals of that fair that had "indian" motif was entirely different and more formal, with lettering on both sides. Also,
I checked Judd and my other pattern books and nothing even close
were mentioned or illustrated. As you said it was about the thickness
of a nickel, the image seems to be very "high" like the 1921 peace dollar
and would be hard to press IMO.
Photos sometimes make it difficult to assess as to whether it is cast
or pressed by dies. Do you see any thing to lead you to think one or the
other? If casted, then it is surely a token/souvenir/art project/or fantasy
piece. I vote for a nongovernment issue.
But who cares!! It is a beautiful piece and I would certainly love one also. You could dedicate a lot of research into this piece.

Would love to know if you ever authenicate its origin.

 

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Thanks for looking. It's definitely struck. No casting mark or spru on the rim anyplace. Here is a picture of the reverse and rim. The indian's head is higher than the edges of the piece?

Take Care
Bone

 

Hi Bone,

This is just some info that I had saved from someone's ebay auction when they were selling one of those Ohiyesa tokens. Since I had a couple, but no related info, I thought it would be nice to save, so here it is. I'll see if I can take any pics of my token, not sure where the camera is at the moment. If I need a webhost to post pics here, I may just email you the picture. The following describes my token(s).


This interesting 25mm copper token depicts Charles A. Eastman, Ohiyesa (Winner), Wahpeton Dakota (Eastern Woodland Sioux), 1858-1939. Physician, autobiographer, legend re-teller, essayist, lecturer. Ohiyesa is shown in full Native American headdress. The reverse of the token says The Winner, Porte Bonheur, Wanamaker-Originator. I don't know if this is some kind of advertising token or a give away during Ohiyesa's lectures etc. According to a Web site about the author, Charles Alexander Eastman is unique among Indian writers, whether storytellers or oral historians. He was raised traditionally, as a Woodland Sioux, by his grandmother, from 1858 - 1874, until he was 15. He thus gained a thorough first-hand knowledge of the lifeways, language, culture, and oral history. His father (thought to have been hanged at Mankato, Minnesota) reappeared and insisted that he receive the white man's education. Educated at Dartmouth and Boston University medical school, Eastman became a highly literate physician, who was the only doctor available to the victims of the Wounded Knee massacre in 1890 -- a major historical event, often described as "ending the Indian wars." Other Indian writers of this period were either entirely acculturated -- had never lived the traditional life of their people or been educated out of their native knowledge -- or were not literate, and were able to provide only "as told to" materials, through the filters of interpreters and non-Indian writers. Eastman had the lifeways and historical events experiences, and he did not need the literary filters of translators and white anthropologists or collectors. Ohiyesa was first named Hakadah (the Pitiful Last One), because his mother died shortly after his brith, somewhere near Redwood Falls, in southwestern Minnesota, in 1858. His first volume of memoirs -- depicting his traditional life, raised by his Wahpeton grandmother -- does not make it clear that almost all this boyhood took place in Manitoba, Canada, after the band had fled U.S. Army and bounty-hunters, following the defeat of the Dakota uprising in Minnesota, in 1862. An interesting item about a very important person.

 

Very interesting, I really enjoyed the information.

Many Thanks
B