"Spiny Lighthouse Seascape": Pictorial love token on 1864 two-cent piece

"Spiny Lighthouse Seascape": Pictorial love token on 1864 two-cent piece



Host coin: 1864 USA 2-cent piece.
Obverse: original shield motif, unaltered.
Reverse: seascape with lighthouse and sailboats in square frame with edge embellishments.

Ex- "fairoakscoin", eBay, 11/13/2014.

Though I had sold off my old love token collection, I continued browsing that category on eBay, and one day I spotted this one. A two-cent piece is a slightly less common host coin for a love token, and this had an appealing pictorial carving on the reverse, so I made an offer and bought it. So what if the lighthouse here looks a bit more like a sea urchin perched atop a pedestal, or a prickly pear cactus? I like it, and actually think this is a pretty well-engraved piece.

This piece, though now sold, was once part of my "Oddball" set, which was my second love token collection. I have since begun a third collection of holed love token and engraved pieces, to put on my "Holey Coin Hat".

This one was featured and illustrated prominently in the cover article about love tokens written by Tom DeLorey in the February 2016 issue of COINage magazine.