Greetings,
The title of this post is the reason for my joining the forum. My grandfather in-law participated in the Great War as a snare drummer with the U.S. Army's 53rd Infantry Regiment, Sixth Infantry Division. While he participated in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, he spent the balance of his time marching around France after the armistice. This allowed his band to conduct impromptu concerts at hospitals and town squares.
He brought home with him a small collection of European coins and banknotes. The coins are for the most part filthy; some display a green corrosion. This is true even of the 1874 French 5 franc and the German Funf Frank coins - both of which I believe are 90% silver content. There's a couple of Canadian bronze pennies, some French 1- and 2-franc pieces, and even a pair of steel 10 pfennig pieces... and more. Value? I will not quit my day job, but as time permits, I'll scan and post here to gather some opinions. And yes, I am resisting all temptation to clean these pieces.
Most, but not all, of the banknotes are beat up. They include a variety of notes issued by French chambers of commerce as opposed to a national French treasury. There's also what appears to be a military script printed expressly for French soldiers' use. Among other items are a couple of really ragged Dominion of Canada 25 cent banknotes.
These items sat undisturbed in Minnesota until about 1985, at which point they moved to suburban Washington, DC for another 30 years. I will liquidate this collection in a casual fashion, monitoring this forum,
ebay, and other resources. More later...
Posted 02/08/2019 06:58 am
to CCF
