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 Replies: 24 / Views: 4,329 |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
not sure if this is just a cheap-o common souvenir, or something more interesting. it appears to be an Indian Head cent (judging from the lettering 'one cent') that has been re-struck into some sort of novelty coin. i have tried googling dyer ind'pls (indianapolis) along with a variety of tag words but so far can not come up with anything remotely similiar. the coin is currently enroute so these are the best pictures I have. I am hoping once it arrives I will be able to read the text on the front of the shield and maybe that will shed some light on the history, in the mean time any help or suggestions would be appreciated. thank you,   edit: additional image i managed to enhance the text on the crest somewhat, the symbol noted appears to be the greek symbol PHI, maybe some fraternity association?  Edited by Wade
08/09/2012 11:14 am
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Valued Member
United States
71 Posts |
I was thinking it was for a fraternity too, I noticed that Phi from math class. I typed "skull seven stars shield society" into google and got back a wiki on the "Mystical Seven" which from what I understand are some of the first fraternities and secret societies in the 1800's. Would match the age of the coin. When you get the coin you should get out the Greek alphabet and see if there is a fraternity that matches.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
538 Posts |
I was active in my fraternity in college and have researched a bit on older fraternal orders. Once you get the coin in hand try to post a better photo of the Greek and I'll see if I recognize anything.
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Valued Member
United States
275 Posts |
Nice piece! I am going to follow this link. If only this one could talk.
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Valued Member
United States
266 Posts |
The words on the back "DYER IND/PLS", the way I read it, may refer to a town Dyer Indiana. It is in the northwest corner of Indiana near Chicago. There are no universities in the town however. Or the second half could read INDIPLS which may be a abbreviation of Indianapolis?
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Pillar of the Community
614 Posts |
I cant wait to find out what this turns out to be!
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Pillar of the Community
 Canada
2781 Posts |
pretty sure it refer's to dyer indianapolis (IND'PLS).
the mystical seven goodle hits are because of several matching key words, but their logo is totally different.
some coins I ordered 2 days before these showed up on thursday, really looking forward to monday or tuesday delivery on this one!
edit:
some more googling, wondering now if the 7 stars are reference to the 7 original confederate states. not sure how indianapolis would fit in (being it was union).
...i hate waiting for the mail
Edited by Wade
08/12/2012 12:12 am
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
NEW PHOTOS:   i am off to decipher the greek, if anyone else wants to take a guess I would appreciate it. the first letter "G" and the one in the middle (between PHI and SIGMA) don't look greek to me, although (pun intended) its all greek to me! Edited by Wade
08/17/2012 11:00 pm
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Valued Member
United States
386 Posts |
I can understand Greek.
There is no G in the Greek language. That is a Latin G. The G is the Greek language is Gamma. If you took Geometry, you would know what a Gamma looks like.
The last 5 letters looks like SINEA (I'm not sure about the last letter). SINEA in Greek means "precious gift".
The first 6 or 7 letters look to be a mix of of Latin and Greek. I need a better look at them, and I'll have my wife look at them too because she is Greek. The first part of the word doesn't make much sense to me.
The letter between the PHI and SIGMA is Greek, and it's pronounced ZETA (Zita in modern Greek).
I think you need to try to work on the name and badge to figure this out. I also think it's a fraternity coin, but the fraternity can be from anywhere. It could also be a non-active one.
Edited by sjh241
08/18/2012 09:51 am
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Valued Member
United States
386 Posts |
I'm also guessing that the G and S (Sigma) are significant to this name because they are both capital letters.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
is it possible the center letter is xi instead of zeta?
making it phi xi sigma (or phi zeta sigma), neither one is getting any google results except for one reference to a modern veterinary frat .
the first G is what is really out of place, also not sure about the third letter (dotted) "j"
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Valued Member
United States
172 Posts |
What a fascinating puzzle. It's not a souvenir. It's definitely something more interesting. Although it could be anything, it looks fraternity related to me. At least three fraternities commonly use skulls in their shields: Phi Kappa Sigma, Sigma Phi Epsilon, and Zeta Beta Tau. Another fraternity, Sigma Chi, commonly uses 7 stars in its shield. There's a record of a Confederate soldier, who was a Sigma Chi, fashioning a badge out of a Seated Liberty half dollar, so making fraternity symbols out of coins is not unheard of. The inscription is really strange, mixing Latin and Greek, suggesting intentional obfuscation. The middle character could be a lower case zeta or xi or something else entirely. If I had to guess, I'd go with xi. To make things more complicated, I wouldn't be surprised if the Greek letters in the inscription did not match the name of the fraternity. Fraternities have chapters that have Greek letter names. Presumably, fraternity members would recognize the symbols of their fraternity and only need to identify the name of a chapter. Whatever it is, I bet it would be worth more if the puzzle was solved. Thanks for sharing. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
Quote:
I bet it would be worth more if the puzzle was solved to me the worth is in solving the puzzle  I've seen 'trench art' coins and other 'folk-art' type creations but I dont think this is a 'one of a kind'. it's been struck (and struck HARD!) not carved, which lends me to believe that if someone went to the trouble to create a die/punch that more than one would have been created. if more than one was struck then there are more out there and someone knows something! the DYER IND'PLS has to be a solid piece of the puzzle to. cool factor would be civil war or some sort of secret society membership token, but with the greek/latin gibberish I wonder if it could also be a (pre mechanical penny press) carnival "stamp your own pirate coin" souvenir. |
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Valued Member
United States
156 Posts |
From a Google search:
The C. B. Dyer & Ratliff Co., Inc. Has been in the business of supplying customer's needs for over a centennial. We are in business for Your business. The company was founded in 1890 by Charles B. Dyer. The original name was the Charles B. Dyer Co. Over the years the company has changed with the times and needs of our customers. Originally what started as a retail jewelry store has now become a manufacturer of emblematic and custom jewelry. We specialize in manufacturing emblems, custom pieces and recognition items.
This is the likely source of this recognition item. Contact with the company would quickly ascertain it's purpose/identity.
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
2781 Posts |
thanks judd1552 ,
email and pictures sent, fingers crossed,
i was just going to start down the jeweler connection (someone from another forum suggested it) but looks like you beat me to it!
stay tuned for news as it happens!
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
899 Posts |
Nice pickup Wade...What an excellent piece to research..  I can't add any more than then what has already been suggested and I will be following your post to see what this turns out to be...Thanks for sharing.. |
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Replies: 24 / Views: 4,329 |
Posted 08/09/2012 02:13 am
