A Continuing Thread ~ Post Your Tokens, Medals, Exonumia Acquisitions

Nice medals spruuuu! That's a study in itself! Thanks for posting!

Picked up a couple San Diego Transit Tokens. Working on a set for all of California, starting at home with the San Diego ones for now. I do need to upgrade two of these at some point for sure, but still nice to have them, even if they don't have a large price tag. I only have the 4th Edition of Atwood-Coffee, so if anyone has the catalog number for the Bay Ferry token or the 1986 bus token, that would be appreciated.



listed as CA 745-H, 15 cent Ferry token for trips between downtown San Diego and Coronado/North Island Naval Base


San Diego's Ferry service was necessary to get from the city to the isthmus of Coronado Island (yes I get the confusion in its name) where North Island Naval Base is located. As you can see in the map, driving south from Downtown (location of A and Market streets) to the end of San Diego Bay, and then back up Silver Strand was quite a long distance compared to how close the two land masses actually are.

When the Coronado Bridge was completed in 1969, all ferry and similar alternative methods to driving over the bridge, or around the bay were outlawed, as a way to force people to use the Bridge. The toll to Coronado was $1.20 (free to return to San Diego) and was used to pay back the bonds that were used to pay for construction. In 1986, when the bridge was paid for, tolls were ended, and it opened a possibility for ferry service to resume. This token is from the post-bridge era of San Diego Bay's ferry service, often used by tourists who are lodging downtown to go and visit historic Coronado.


Just a 1986 bus token that commemorates the 100th year of public transportation in San Diego

Very nice examples! Good luck with the set.


Very nice!

TECUMSEH - SHAWNEE
This medal is from The Franklin Mint's 1977
" Great American Indian Chiefs" series.

The edge is marked Sterling.
approx .65 Troy ounces
Diam 36 mm
Minted 1973



Tecumseh was an energetic warrior, a respected war chief, and a strong and eloquent orator, whose lifelong goal was to repel the Americans from Indian lands. He and his brother, Tenskwatawa, founded Prophetstown, a large, multi-tribal community that attracted thousands and became a major center of Indian culture, a temporary barrier to encroaching settlers, and a central point for the political and military alliance that was forming around Tecumseh. With a base of supporters in Prophetstown, Tecumseh became the principal organizer and driving force of a multi-tribal confederacy of American Indians.
Tecumseh's message promoted tribal unity; he adamantly insisted that tribal lands belong collectively to all Indians.
After the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, Tecumseh resumed his role as the military leader of the pan-Indian confederation, but the battle ended his plan to form a larger, pan-Indian alliance. Tecumseh and the Indian resistance movement allied with the British against the Americans during the War of 1812, but his death at the Battle of the Thames in 1813 and the end of War of 1812 led to the collapse of the alliance. Over the next several years the Indians ceded their remaining land east of the Mississippi River to the U.S. government. As most of the Indians removed to reservation land in the western United States, white settlers claimed the former Indian lands in the Old Northwest Territory for themselves.
Tecumseh is considered "one of the most sophisticated and celebrated Indian leaders in all history."
However, his weaknesses as an ambitious, impulsive, and arrogant leader willing to make significant sacrifices, including risking the lives of his followers, impacted the Indian resistance movement. Despite his relentless efforts, the pan-Indian alliance was not successful in achieving its goal of retaining control of Indian lands in the Old Northwest Territory.

Tecumseh is honored in Canada as a hero and military commander who played a major role in Canada's successful repulsion of an American invasion in the War of 1812, which, among other things, eventually led to Canada's nationhood in 1867 with the British North America Act. Among the tributes, Tecumseh is ranked 37th in The Greatest Canadian list.



Tecumseh met with William Henry Harrison in 1810 and in 1811 to demand that the U.S. government rescind its land cession treaties with the Shawnee and other tribes. Harrison refused. In mid-August 1810, Tecumseh led 400 armed warriors from Prophetstown to confront Harrison at Grouseland, the territorial governor's home at Vincennes.

Afterwards, some witnesses to the gathering claimed that Tecumseh had incited the warriors to kill Harrison, who responded by drawing his sword from its sheath at his side. The small garrison defending the town quickly moved to protect the territorial governor; the Potawatomi chief, Winnemac, stood and countered Tecumseh's arguments to the group, urging the warriors to leave peacefully. As the warriors departed, Tecumseh warned Harrison that unless the Treaty of Fort Wayne was rescinded, he would seek an alliance with the British.

Those treasuary medals are really cool! That's really slick how you have each mint with it's minted coins

And I particularly like the Tecumseh Shawnee Chief medal
Very nice TNG

This 26mm medal in bronze is one of a series of 13 struck for a British magazine 'The Sentimental' in 1773-1774.

Located in Fleet Street, the magazine was published through 1777 and featured art, poetry, society notices, an early take on the travelogue, and other "sentimental" news.

For your sixpence (a not-inconsiderable sum in 1773) you received that month's issue and, wrapped in tissue paper, one of the medals.

The medals themselves featured a bust engraving by John Kirk, while the reverse had simple text naming the subject being depicted. Examples are known to have been struck in gold, gilded bronze, silver, and silver-plated bronze, but how they were obtained or why they were struck is not known. A total of 13 different subjects were struck, of which 10 have dates and 3 have none.

This particular example featured Kirk's engraving of King George II, his armored bust facing left, with the Star of the Order of the Garter affixed. The reverse simply gives three lines: "GEORGE THE SECOND."





The other 12 medals known to exist:

- Olivar (sic) Cromwell (1658)

- The Duke of Glocester (sic), Prince William Henry (1773)

- The Duchess of Glocester (sic), Maria Walpole, whose (secret) marriage to the Duke scandalized the nobility and cast the two of them out from society and, following an edict from George III, the royal courts, who forbade any descendant of the royal line from entering into marriage without his written consent (1774)

- The Duchess of Cumberland, Anne Horton, also cast out from society along with her husband the Duke at the behest of King George III. The "crime" committed by both Duchesses was that of being a commoner or low-born and entering into a scandalous marriage with a noble gentleman, i.e. the Dukes. (undated)

- King George III (1773)

- Queen Charlotte, King George III's wife and the Queen Consort of Great Britain (1773)

- Lord Chatham, William Pitt (1773)

- David Garrick, Esq., actor, playwright, and stage producer (1773)

- The Marquess of Granby, Gen. John Manners, King's Privy Council (1774)

- John Wilkes, Esq., Middlesex MP and parliamentary Radical (1773)

- The Rt. Hon. William Beckford, anti-Royalist agitator and supporter of Wilkes (undated)

- Lord Camden, 1st Earl Camden, Charles Pratt, another Radical and supporter of Wilkes (1773)

Great looking medals to all the posters!

spruett - you should add that title to your signature. "vecturist" I think transit tokens would be an interesting collection. I only have 1 - from Va Beach/Norfolk expressway. Is an interesting piece.

TNG - I like that Tecumseh medal - we have a town named for Tecumseh and another named Shawnee a couple miles down the road from each other here in Oklahoma.