Featured Vesta McCurry's WW1 love token coin is going home!

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by lordmarcovan, Dec 22, 2018.

  1. GDJMSP

    GDJMSP Numismatist Moderator

    I strongly suspect a lot more will recognize your name than you ever imagined ;)

    And John, if ya think my posts here are long, you should see some of my emails :D

    Wait a minute, it's been long time but it's coming back to me, you have seen a lot of my emails in years past :)
     
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  3. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Now that that's fixed... :)
     
  4. messydesk

    messydesk Well-Known Member

    Re-reading this thread makes me think that putting together a exhibit of the time line of the history of this love token, including everyone that helped connect the dots and dead ends along the way, maybe with one of those maps with pins and string, would be pretty cool, even if the coin itself isn't available for the exhibit.
     
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  5. Paddy54

    Paddy54 Well-Known Member

    This store touches each mortals heart.....as no matter if we are famous or not I'm quite sure we all have asked our selves or wondered what will be said or known after me?
    The news store the other day of a note in a bottle with someones remains, the note read please throw me back in the ocean, as I now have eternity to travel the earth.
    I guess we all wonder if and what will be remembered about us.
    This is a feel good store about the love shared in another time and an artifact that with stand the test of time sharing the love these two people had.
    I'm sure they were simple people...who had no idea that decades later their lives again live on in a story of soldiers love for the gal back home.
    Great piece of writing Rob.....but even a better act of kindness sharing not only the story ,but returning the coin to the rightful place in a family's history.
     
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  6. Stevearino

    Stevearino Well-Known Member

  7. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    All I did was quell my desire to purchase the piece! LordM did it all.
     
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  8. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    There is an interesting postscript to this story, as it happens. I haven't written about that yet, though I briefly hinted at it in the article. For now, I will say that I was on the receiving end of something like this recently. A complete stranger in Savannah tracked my mother down via just this sort of geneaology sleuthing, and sent her a silver medal which was given to my grandfather in 1942 when he went off to serve in WW2. Mom sent the medal to me recently. It is beautiful, though lightly circulated, as apparently Granddaddy must have carried it as a pocket piece for a little while. More on this later.

    Edit: see here.
     
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  9. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Supporter! Supporter

    I don't know how I missed this post in December, but just now read the entire post and must say I admire you Lordmarcovan for what you did. My hat is tipped to you sir.
    I recently went through my foreign coins and have a 1910 2 franc coin, so felt a small connection to the love token.
    I've done something similar, but not with a coin, with a video tape I saved from stolen property when I was with the Sheriff's department. It was a video of a wedding and I was sure they would like to have it back. I did the researched and found the couple and mailed it to them. The other was a long letter from a soldier during WW I, but never got a return communication from the relatives, so donated it to the War Museum back East.
    Sometimes we forget that there are a lot of good people in the world, but we don't always see them.
     
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  10. Randy Abercrombie

    Randy Abercrombie Supporter! Supporter

    You guys are incredible. I am the first living descendent of both my grandfathers. Both served in WWII. One of my grandfathers was a very young bugler in WWI. If somebody went through the effort to find me and present me with something from their time in service, I would be beside myself. You CT folks are truly incredible.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
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  11. Mountain Man

    Mountain Man Supporter! Supporter

    Because the story is so heart felt, you might consider submitting it to other publications like Reader's Digest or Reminisce magazine, if it isn't now owned by The Numismatist. Some publications outright own the story once it is published, while others allow you to submit the same article to other publications.
     
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  12. Stevearino

    Stevearino Well-Known Member

    I know how you would feel, Randy. For years I regretted the fact that I had no letters from my father during his WW II service. I was studying in Europe when my grandmother died, and by the time I got home her estate had been auctioned off.

    Lo and behold, a few months ago I got an envelope in the mail from a cousin. She is about 14 years older than me and they had just sold their home of almost 50 years...and had about 50 years of "stuff" to get rid of. Included were half a dozen letters home from my dad. I had tears in my eyes.

    Steve
     
  13. Hookman

    Hookman Well-Known Member

    Awwww Shucks to all of you !!
     
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  14. messydesk

    messydesk Well-Known Member

    I didn't see the article in the December issue. Did it get spiked or deferred to later?
     
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  15. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    August, 2021 update: sorry for the crazy-long-belated reply, as I just wandered back here to revisit this. It seems they must have spiked my story, as I saw no sign of it ever having been published in The Numismatist (but I don’t subscribe and my ANA membership has lapsed). I never heard back from them, to my recollection.

    So maybe one day I’ll include it in a book of similar stories. By now I’ve piled up several about interesting love tokens.
     
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  16. Trish

    Trish Well-Known Member

    I get The Numismatist and was hoping to see it but haven't, as of this August issue. I hope they use your story. Human interest stories are always fun to read.
     
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  17. PamR

    PamR You Never Know! Supporter

    Very nice story!
     
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  18. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    2023 update/thread resurrection: to my knowledge, The Numismatist never ran this story, though I did some work in formatting it for publication there. Oh well.
     
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  19. PamR

    PamR You Never Know! Supporter

    They should have. Special stories and special items for one to be cherished.
     
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  20. lordmarcovan

    lordmarcovan Eclectic & Eccentric Moderator

    This right here was the magic moment, which made it all worthwhile. I never foresaw that happening when I first posted this thread. To reunite that coin with a descendant of its original owner made my whole month.
     
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  21. PamR

    PamR You Never Know! Supporter

    Yes! I bet so. A small world in a way. It’s like you reunited them again. :) For sure a special coin you won’t forget no doubt.
     
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