A pair of recent acquisitions: Colorado state penitentiary tokens and brass sample good-fors. Still trying to figure out if the brass 5c is an error or intentional...
Quote: A pair of recent acquisitions: Colorado state penitentiary tokens and brass sample good-fors. Still trying to figure out if the brass 5c is an error or intentional...
Sorry, work has had me too tired the past couple weeks to want to post, but I would like to share more San Diego Coinarama medals with you guys:
1982 brings us the third protected species medal, the Bald Eagle. The National bird and animal of the United States, this raptor is found throughout the North American continent. A "sea" bird, it is generally found near a body of water. While not one of the largest birds of prey, it does make one of the largest nests of all birds. An opportunistic carnivore, fish makes up the majority of their diet. Bald eagles have no problem eating sick or already deceased animals. Depending on each bird's habitat, fish will be supplemented by other animals, including other water birds and mammals up to the size of a newborn deer.
Once a population of 3-5 hundred thousand, the known population dropped to just 412 nesting pairs in the contiguous states in the 1950's. DDT and lead poisoning (leading to weak egg shells), illegal hunting, and habitat encroachment all lead to the bald eagles being listed an an endangered species in 1967. The new laws protecting our national animal, as well as the banning of DDT lead to a resurgence of bald eagle populations. Estimations of 100-115,000 individuals was reported in 1992, and almost 10,000 breeding pairs were reported in 2006. In 1999, bald eagles were moved from endangered to threatened, and then removed completely in 2007.
Bald Eagles do visit San Diego County, but aren't a very common sight. In 2013, a third nesting pair was located during the annual Golden Eagle nesting survey.
The medal shows a bald eagle landing on a branch. Mintages: Silver - 75 (haven't seen one) Bright Bronze - 300 Oxidized Bronze - 300 Other metals - less than 10.
The 1983 medal shows the Brown Pelican, the fourth of the California Protected Species series.
Found along the coasts of the Pacific and Atlantic, this smallest of the pelican family is highly distributed. Like the Bald Eagle above, however, this animal was threatened when pesticides weakened egg shells, and didn't let embryos come to term. The state bird of Louisiana, they became extinct in that state in 1963. While the global population has rebounded with conservation efforts and the banning of DDT, they are still considered endangered in California. I remember being excited as a kid to see one along the coast since they were so rare. Since then, they are a scarce but expected sight, especially near fishing docks.
Growing up to 5 feet long, and having up to a 7-1/2 foot wingspan they are generally the largest birds in their habitat. While almost primarily a fish eater, they will also eat crustaceans, small amphibians, and other birds' eggs. They like to feed by diving from a high distance into the water and snapping up fish. When it surfaces, it lets the water spill out of its throat punch, and then swallows its prey.
This medal shows a brown pelican sitting on a dock pylon.
Mintages: Silver - 65 (haven't seen one) Bright Bronze - 250 Oxidized Bronze - 250 Less than 10 minted in other metals.
Great medals and awesome pictures. Pretty low mintages. Who doesn't like an Eagle? I have seen quite a few Pelican in my life. A very odd bird. I would not want to be reincarnated as a pelican. LOL I think one delivered me to my mother when I was little instead of the stork.
This particular medal sculpted by Evangelos Frudakis is a really tough one to find. It is #44, the first I have seen sold "loose" outside of the 5th issue of ten medals #41 through #50 from the 50 medal SCFC series ~ Societe Commemorative de Femmes Celebres ~ minted by the Franklin Mint.
There are many interpretations and beliefs about Adam and Eve. For the sake of avoiding arguement, I'll just give a couple things I have found or have been taught.
Adam, Eve, and the Serpent Lilith at the entrance to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.
Roughly 150 generations have passed since Eve was created. You won't find it on Ancestry dot calm but there is a geneology recorded for those old days. LOL So I'll just call her my Great Grandmother. Before Noah's flood, some people supposedly lived to be hundreds of years old. Believe what you will. At any rate ... It is a beautiful obverse. Will sit nicely with my Cleopatra, Queen Elizabeth I, Helen of Troy and Molly Pitcher from the same series.
I picked up this little 32 mm medal at a good price. It would have a thin red white and blue ribbon for wearing around the neck. They are often seen quite worn or corroded. This souvenir from the celebration in 1909 is pretty nice.
The Hudson-Fulton Celebration from September 25 to October 9, 1909 in New York and New Jersey was an elaborate commemoration of the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson's discovery of the Hudson River and the 100th anniversary of Robert Fulton's first successful commercial application of the paddle steamer.
The maritime achievements of Hudson and Fulton foreshadowed the importance of the river to New York's progress and identity. Organizers used the event not only to display the success of the two men, but also the status of New York City as a world city and the achievements of its citizens. There were great parades on land and water. One way the memories of Hudson and Fulton were honored was in the replication of the Hudson's Half Moon and Fulton's Clermont, the sailboat and steamship each respectively navigated on the river. Both vessels were newly replicated, displayed, and dedicated with great fanfare. The United States' naval supremacy was proudly represented with a number of ships from Theodore Roosevelts "Great White Fleet" as well as other countries battleships. The newly built Steamship Lusitania was also there. Landmarks were illuminated at night with spotlights and half a million incandecsent lights. The Celebration also included public flights by Wilbur Wright, who had won world fame with demonstration flights in Europe in late 1908 and spring 1909. Using Governor's Island as an airfield, on September 29 he flew around the Statue of Liberty. On October 4 he made a 33-minute flight over the Hudson River to Grant's Tomb and back. Airships, blimps and airplaines flew overhead.
The fate of Henry Hudson and the mutiny of his crew, as well as the nay-sayers of Robert Fulton's building of a steam powered paddle boat, "The Clermont" aka "Fulton's Folly", are both stories one should learn about.
The 1984 Coinarama medal is the fifth protected species medal and honors the Gray Whale.
While the "California" Gray whale is not on the endangered list, the Asian Gray is critically endangered and the Atlantic Gray is extirpated. Before whaling, it is estimated there were around 100,000 gray whales throughout the world. Today, the estimate is about 20,000 with a high majority found in the eastern Pacific. Most of this population spends its summers off of the coast of alaska eating, and its winters in the lagoons of western Mexico where mothers give birth and nurse their young. This migration of 12,000 miles roundtrip is thought to be the longest migration of any animal.
Growing up to 50 feet long and 40 tons, their migration along the west coast generally follows the coast line. It is common for port cities to offer whale watching trips to enjoy watching these giants as they swim by. It isn't rare for a juvenile to swim into a bay and hang out for a few days. There has also been recent sightings of a handful of solo whales in the atlantic, including off the African coast of Namibia and the Mediterranean coast of Israel, meaning they may be repopulating other areas, or that a couple of whales were separated from others, and swam the wrong way trying to find them.
The medal shows a Gray Whale swimming with flukes out of water as it passes Point Loma with the Cabrillo lighthouse on the cliff mesa.
Mintage: Silver - 75 (haven't seen) Bronze - 300 Copper - 300 Other metals - less than 10
The 1985 medal, 6th in the protected species series, celebrates one of my favorite animals, the California Condor.
The largest land bird in North America, this New World Vulture feasts on carrion, preferring to find large dead animals, but will eat smaller animals it scavenges as well. Mostly black, with white feathers under its wings, the Condor has a bald head. This lack of head feathers means that any rotting flesh that gets on its head will not stick to feathers and start to rot and transfer parasites who would love to live under feathers. They can grow to almost 6 feet long with up to a 10 foot wingspan. I've never been able to see one fly in the wild, but when they fly in their enclosure at the San Diego Zoo, it is quite a site. They are also one of the longest living North American birds, living up to 60 years old. Fossils of birds who lived 500 years ago have been found as far as Texas and Northern Mexico, and the Lewis and Clark expedition claimed to have sighted them near the mouth of the Columbia River.
My infatuation of this bird started in 1987, when I was ten years old, and the local news did a story about them. Like many other large meat eating birds, human actions caused their numbers to dwindle. Between being hunted as pests and calcium depletion leading to weak egg shells, Condors quickly became endangered animals. DDT poisoning was a partial cause, but even more so for this bird, lead poisoning from animals shot by hunters and left to rot lead to this calcium deficiency. The fact that they also typically only lay one egg every two years also can slow down repopulation if their numbers drop. In 1987, the last wild California Condor was captured. The San Diego Zoo & Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo lead an effort to bring back the population of wild Condors. A few other zoos were enlisted to help. At this time, there were only 22 California Condors still alive, and the animal was classified as extinct in the wild. The zoos then developed ways to increase their breeding efforts, and create enough of a stock of birds so that they could begin to be released into the wild again. One strategy was to enlist the Condor's ability to double clutch, or be able to lay a second egg if their first egg was lost early enough into the breeding season. The zookeepers would take the first egg, and allow the mother Condor to lay again and take care of the second egg. The keepers also had to worry about human imprinting and reliance on humans. Before the babies could be released to the pens to live autonomously, they had to raise the chicks with a condor puppet.
The first Condors to be reintroduced to the wild was 4 years later in 1991. All released birds are tagged, and tracked as much as possible. In 2003, the first wild fledgling was spotted. This was the first known wild fledgling since 1981. In 2006, a pair was seen trying to nest near Big Sur, the first nesting pair seen in Northern California in over 100 years. In 2007, a wild Condor egg was laid in Mexico for the first time since the 1930's. In 2010, but 23 years after there were only 22 total Condors in existence, the population of wild Condors in California numbered 100, plus 73 more in Arizona. In 2014, Utah had its first hatchling born in Zion National Park. In 2016, the condor population report stated there were 276 wild Condors, and 170 in captivity, meaning that the number of Condors in the world increased by twentyfold in just 30 years. This scavenger is a true mascot of the horrors our species can do to our planet, but also the immense good we can do as well.
The medal shows a Condor flying over a desert scene.
Mintage: Silver - 75 (haven't seen one) Bronze - 225 Copper - 225 Other metals - less than 10
Great stories on the Gray whale and condor. That is a fantastic image of the whale. They are such odd looking creatures. Very mysterious. Nice San Diego coinaramas again. Excellent job and I appreciate when you participate. Obviously this is my favorite thread. LOL
1986 brings us the 7th protected species medal, the Big Horn Mountain Sheep.
Bighorns are wild sheep that are generally found in rocky desert meadows,or living among mountains and cliffsides. The rams grow large round horns, hence the name. They use these horns to battle other males over dominance for mating. There are a few subspecies, currently classified under three names: Rocky Mountain; Sierra Nevada; and Desert. The largest are the Rocky Mountain, with males growing up to 500 pounds. Overall, Bighorn sheep are classified as "least concerned" in regards to extinction.
The population of Big Horn Sheep in San Diego are the Peninsular Desert Bighorn, a distinct population of the Desert subspecies. This population is considered endangered. 200 years ago, the total Big Horn Sheep population was estimated to be as much as 2 Million+, but as Manifest Destiny and the westward movement began, the sheep were hunted unmercifully. They also lost much of their land as farmers fenced in land for their own domesticated sheep and livestock. By 1900, the estimates were down to a few thousand total. While I don't have a current estimate, their numbers have rebounded quite well over the last hundred years. As for the local Peninsular Big Horns, there were only about 1100 in the 1970's, and that dwindled to about 400 by the year 2000. A plan of recovery was drafted, and as of 2010, those 400 has rebounded to almost 1000 again.
The medal features a ram's head with long horns.
Mintage: Silver - 152 (haven't seen one) Bronze - 250 Copper - 250 Other metals - less than 10
1987 brings us the eighth California Protected Species medal, the Mountain Lion.
Another of my favorite animals, the Mountain Lion is the fourth largest cat and second largest of the new world cats. Given many names, including Puma, Cougar, and Catamount, the Mountain Lion's historical range goes from southern Canada to the tip of South America. An ambush hunter, the Mountain Lion prefers large ungulates such as deer, but will eat animals as small as rodents and even large insects as well. They can grow as tall as 3 feet, as long as 8 feet, and up to 220 pounds. The animal was seen as a nuisance, as the territorial predator would kill livestock, and many were hunted. In fact, the historical population east of the Rockies in North America are extinct, minus a small number of cats in southern Florida. In recent years there have been a handful of sightings in the east, as far away as Connecticut meaning the western cougars are at least exploring the possibilities of expanding their territories.
While the overall species is classified as least concerned, in southern California, urban sprawl continues to threaten their population by encroaching on their territories with new buildings, and cutting off hunting trails with freeways. Since Mountain Lions are also solitary beings, these territory encroachments can also make it hard for cats to find each other to mate.
One last interesting fact is that while Mountain Lions are big cats, they aren't actually part of the group known as the Big Cats. Big cats cannot purr, and can roar. Mountain lions can purr, but can't roar. In fact, their loudest noise may be scarier than a lion's roar. They sound more like a woman screaming in fear:
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The medal shows the head of a Mountain Lion. Mintage: Silver - 100 (never seen one) Bronze - 250 Copper - 250 Other metals - less than 10
Big cat and Big sheep. As a kid I always liked "The LA Rams" but I am not a Penn State "Nittany Lion" fan even though it's an hour away to Happy Valley. Still, there are supposed to be Mountain Lions out in PA. I live where they certainly could roam. Nice write-ups again. Thanks
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Posted 03/21/2018 8:14 pm
