I thought it was cool to find. Its a 1910 Boy Scout token given out with the purchase of the "offical" boy scout shoe. The back was kinda scary to see at first glance. Its a reverse though of Hitlers and before He got ahold of it, it was a good luck symbol. I found another one of these but without the date. Also have two silver boy scout rings. I like finding the oddball stuff as well as the old coins. If I'm getting to far off the track on what I'm posting for this forum. Let me know. I'll stick to the coins. Jim
You're not off track at all, Jim. I believe exonumia, paper money, publications, supplies etc., are all welcome topics. Very cool token, BTW.
One of the things I love most about coin collecting is the variety of windows it opens on history. Although it doesn't say much about the Native American or Japanese use of the swastika as a good luck talisman, this site provides a wonderful overlook of a symbol found on coinage, which had its meaning subverted and reversed in the last three-quarter century of its ancient history.
That's neat stuff, Jimmie. On a side note, I would like to inform you that Boy Scout memorabilia in general is quite collectible, in case you weren't aware. I'm an Eagle Scout, and in my active scouting years I collected and traded many patches, pins, and other random memorabilia. So, even if your token doesn't hold much value as a coin, it will always hold value as a historical piece, at least for certain people!
The Excellsior Shoe token pictured is a relatively common item but is highly prized by those who collect shoe related exonumia and collectors of boy scout items. There are also people who collect horses, men on horseback, swazicas, good luck symbols, etc. I don't know how these were distributed but due to the number around and their location it's possible they were tied to a specific kind of shoe being marketed at the time. I've heard of this token with no hole. Figure its value at 3 to $10 in low grade and 8 to $20 in unc. Due to the extremely high proportion of these in low grade, it seems likely the kids were the ones who had them.
