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

Gary Cooper was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned thirty-five years, from 1925 to 1960, and included leading roles in eighty-four feature films.



Some of my favorites are:
High Noon
The Pride of the Yankees
Sergeant York
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Meet John Doe
But I can watch any movie with Gary Cooper and some I have seen dozens of times. Definitely in my top 10 favorite people on the silver screen.

Cooper was one of the founding members of the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals a conservative organization dedicated, according to its statement of principles, to preserving the "American way of life" and opposing communism and fascism.
The organization — whose membership included Walter Brennan, Laraine Day, Walt Disney, Clark Gable, Hedda Hopper, Ronald Reagan, Barbara Stanwyck, and John Wayne — advised the United States Congress to investigate communist influence in the motion picture industry.
On October 23, 1947, Cooper appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and was asked if he had observed any "communistic influence" in Hollywood.
Cooper recounted statements he'd heard suggesting that the Constitution was out of date and that Congress was an unnecessary institution—comments that Cooper said he found to be "very un-American".
He also testified that he had rejected several scripts because he thought they were "tinged with communist ideas".

Cooper's ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed to his appearing natural and authentic on screen. The screen persona he sustained throughout his career represented The Ideal American Hero.

The second of the protected species medals, the 1981 Coinarama medal shows the wild mustang. This is kind of a misnomer, as all "wild mustangs" are descendants of domesticated ancestors. The should be considered free-ranging horses instead. The first Wild Mustangs were Colonial Spanish horses, but other breeds have become intermingled throughout the last couple hundred years. Once the Spanish horses were quickly bred into large herds, and the natives thoughout North America were quick to integrate them into their lives, and adapted their lives for this new tool. They had a new and improved way for catching up to and hunting buffalo, and ability to travel farther and create new trade routes, and created new forms of warfare because of the introduction of the horse. In the late 1800's, it is estimated that there were between 2 and 5 million Mustangs wandering around the west. Many of the Mustangs were rounded up to fight in the Mexican-American War, and after as spoils of war when they were mixed with the large herds of Mexican horses left behind and shipped North and East. Many of what was left after the turn of the century were rounded up for the cavalry for the Spanish-American War and World War I. By 1930, the estimates had dropped to just 50,000-150,000 wild mustangs left. These animals were now considered a nuisance, as they were grazing on private or government maintained land, and capture efforts continued by the US Forest Service. By the 1950's, their number dwindled to about 25,000 as capture methods turned into eradication methods as it was easier to hunt them from airplanes or poison their water holes than to capture them. Acts in 1959 and 1971 created laws to protect this species. The Bureau of Land Management now manages the feral herds. The estimate that 26,000 head are a manageable number, that would allow for a thriving gene pool, but also not cause hardship on the land they live on. There are no true predators of Mustangs in the American west, though Mountain lions and wolves could help thin herds by taking foals. The problem is that the horses generally are not found in the same ranges as those two alpha predators. To help with herd sizes, the Bureau captures horses every year and adopts them out.



The medal shows a Mustang grazing with foal.

Mintage:
Silver - 75 (haven't seen one!)
Bronze - 400
Oxidized Bronze - 135
Less than 10 in other metals



Not sure why the regular bronze isn't working. That's ok, I like the oxidized version better.

A very nice write-up to go with your token.

Beautiful!

I lived in Knoxville for a few years when I was a kid and we went to the Smokies a lot. Fun fact, my first dog was named Smoky.

For what it is worth, I live close enough to make a day trip if and when I want.

That's a true classic. I haven't seen them all, but a couple I would add as real favorites are The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, both John Ford films. The Searchers is probably my all-time favorite John Wayne film.

I wouldn't really include it, but The Longest Day is also a great film that happens to include John Wayne, among other stars.

Edit: Speaking of Rooster Cogburn, we had a friend who owned a private cabin in the Ouachita National Forest (or within a couple hundred feet of the border with a tiny sign) and when driving there, we passed "Rooster" Cogburn's place. I am pretty sure it was this man, although I remember it being more SE of Mena:

http://m.newsok.com/article/2233420

P.S. That is beautiful country.

Very nice!

That's the one! Last time I did nine tokens in one post and it took sooooo long to put together. I will break up the posts about the new ones into smaller groups, maybe only 3 or 4.

The pics are better than before, but I'm still unsatisfied. I decided it is the aluminum tokens' fault.