Shell's Mr. President Coin Game question

Cladking: Thank you for this information. I do have an odd token with the standard 'Mr. President Coin Game' reverse and a standard Shell Oil emblem on the obverse. It says 'Instant Winner' around the emblem - there is no president on the token. Is there a value listed for this one or a quantity issued?

 

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It's listed as 35c but all the other Instant Winners are specifically listed as such.

 

Thanks.

Thanks for looking that up for me. Since the major key tokens are generally unavailable it's hard to establish a value, but in today's market the minor keys (and minor Instant Winner tokens) sell for $5 to $15 each (I'll pay $10 each all day long for any of the oil company aluminum Instant Winner tokens). If any of the major keys showed up on an auction site I suspect there would be buyers in the $100 to $1,000 range. They are exceedingly rare and make 1909-S VDB pennies look common.

 

I've gone through a lot of tokens looking for keepers and haven't even found all the minor keys yet! I didn't use Shell gas much back in the day but I still saw a lot of these tokens and talked to people who played the game. The keys are lite Yeti, you hear second and third hand reports but never see one or have a confirmed sighting. If memory serves there was a $1000 IW in Dyer, Indiana but after redemption the token most probably met its demise. Since I gave up completing the set many years ago I've instead been working on upgrading and looking for varieties. It's rather surprising how tough a few of these are to find in nice chBU or Gem. The varieties aren't especially dramatic but increase the difficulty of finding nicer specimens.

It's really good to see other people collecting them because one person can't be certain if his experience is typical or related to other factors. For all I knew there were lots of the IW's in Houston or somewhere on the east coast.

The common tokens may be too common for most people but I still enjoy collecting them.

 

One way to get BU/Gems is to buy the tokens still in their original packaging. There are several for sale on eBay right now. Years ago I bought a Mr. President Coin Game unopened token and opened it (dreaming that it might be an Instant Winner). It was common but looked like it was minted this morning and easily MS65.

What varieties have you found in the Mr. President Coin Game series?

 

I opened so many of these back in 1968 that I don't know if I'd want to pay any premium to open one now. They were all common.

It looks like there were three press runs and all the common ones appear to exist in the second run but many less common issues aren't in the third. The second run is I believe cut from new dies that differ slightly. The entire design is a little less deep and devices have a little more distance between them. It is possible that this is actually just a hubbing issue. The third one has some elements closer to the edge.

I believe these are distinct die differences but am not certain.

Even some of the most common issues can be surprisingly hard to find with sharp strikes and in pristine condition. I've long found it surprising but I suppose a lot just sit in sock drawers and buckets. The years take a toll on them. Witrh the soft aluminum wearing so easily a lot of them now days are XF even but AU and AU+ is typical.

 

I have a few of these but will hafta dig them out of a treasure box & an old cigar box. I believe I have the antique cars series 1&2 as well. I just thought they were, well, undesirable for lack of a better word. Will check back in after I locate them....

 

Most people have preetty little use for them.

Complete sets of the car series are pretty common. Really the bulk of all these gas tokens are fairly common though some are tougher in nice condition and there are the keys that are either scarce or non-existent.

I have about 300 different and really enjoy collecting them but I doubt there's any real premium for any of the commons.

 

Well, I gotta go look and see which ones they are now. You have peaked my interests...... Instead of dogging people for the "modern junk" they collect. I like to learn what the grail or conditional rarity is for such. Next thing you know, im educated and ive broadened my collecting horizons.....

 

For the 'Shell's Mr. President Coin Game' 39 different aluminum game tokens were minted and issued, and that would comprise a complete set. There were 16 key prize-winning tokens (9 major and 7 minor). The 9 major keys are extremely rare or no longer exist. I've never seen one offered for sale, never seen a picture of one, nor have confirmation of anyone possessing one (just like the elusive 1964 Peace Dollar). The 7 minor keys are attainable therefore it should be possible to put together a set of 30. Does anyone out there have a set of 30 different?

 

At one point I had a set of 24 - the complete set of non-winners, plus a minor. I also had spares. Bought it for $10, sold it for more. Neat little set, and as you said, probably impossible to put together a complete one.

 

Not I.

I have only one IW and not Shell obverse.

 

A long time ago...I didn,t drive yet but I think you got free gasoline.

 

Don't underestimate the value of the Instant Winner tokens. Some are quite valuable now; over $100.00 each. Even the common ones fetch $5.00 to $15.00 each.

During the game in 1968, the Instant Winner tokens got you either a cash prize ranging from $1.00 to $1,000.00, or a bronze set of presidential tokens. It depended on which president was on the obverse.

 

I won a few of the $1 Instant Winners and one $5 Instant Winners. I also won the bronze set of Presidential coins or tokens, back when this game was played.

I used Shell Premium gas for it's high octane for a high performance car in '69. I don't know what they used in their gas but it left 1/8" crusty deposits on all the intake valves. I had to remove the heads and disassembly the heads to clean all the valves. Never used Shell gas again after that.

 

My youngest son was about 13-14 at the time and he got a winner that I sent in for him and it good for a 1 ounce Silver Eagle coin that he still has today

 

Hmmm ... That may have been a different promotion since the Mr. President Coin Game did not have any silver coin prizes. The one-ounce mint product commonly called a 'silver eagle' was not produced until 1986 so he must have received some other cool prize. I'd love to see a photo of his prize coin if you can get one. Yes, these promotional games were exciting and there are many fond memories of playing and winning prizes.

 

I could be wrong about this, but didn't they also offer with the right coin or token not only the bronze set of Presidential coins or tokens but also a silver set and a gold set. Anyone one remember this?

 

Hi Ron. The Franklin Mint produced at least eight sets of presidential medals and tokens using the same basic presidential motifs. Some of these sets were sold as early as 1967 (before the Shell Oil game started). Six of the eight sets were retail products and not associated with the Shell Oil game. Of those six, two were struck in platinum (both were 36-coin sets, one was 10mm and the other 26mm in diameter), and four were struck in sterling silver (all four were 36-coin sets; 10mm, 26mm, 32mm, 39mm). These were sold in a variety of different display cases. The Franklin Mint produced two sets for the Shell Oil Company. The first set was the aluminum game pieces for the Mr. President Coin Game (39 different tokens), and the second set was one of the prizes for the game, a 35-piece bronze token set with a cardboard mount that had "Presidential Hall of Fame" printed at the top. This set was later expanded to 36 tokens when they added the President Nixon token. This bronze set was the only Franklin Mint prize associated with the Shell Oil game. Because the president motifs are similar on all these products, they have been a source of confusion for years.

 

I can almost imagine a wealthy person not redeeming a higher value IW and holding onto it instead.