As a Morgan lover and automotive service professional, to me, this is incredibly cool. The Morgans look like AU-UNC Details 1883-O's -- the one in the reverse looks like it might have even been PL or DMPL before it was cleaned! The coins sit in holes in the wooden plaque, with the advertising/descriptive background on the reverse, and a plastic cover to keep the coins in the holes (they can be removed and replaced as needed.) Can't see the mintmarks on the other 4, but if one is an 1883-O, and they look the same, they're probably all 1883-O's.
A bit of background: Gates was / is the largest manufacturer of auto fan belts and has been for decades. Gates invented the "V belt" design and pioneered the use of rubber instead of leather for belts, both in the 1910s, and needed to promote their products.
From the late 1920s onward, their national sales reps would visit service stations around the country in nondescript vehicles and ask for a routine service: a gas fill-up, an oil level check, etc. These cars were purposely "equipped" with worn, but not dangerously so, fan belts.
If the station attendant or mechanic on duty noticed the worn fan belt and attempted to sell the driver a replacement Gates fan belt, the driver would reward the lucky attendant or mechanic with a reward: a medal, a token, a coin, or even a set of coins -- up to $5 worth of silver dollars!
To put that into perspective, this award dates from the late 40s or early 50s based on the text. $5 would have been at least a day or more's pay for the average station attendant, probably more like 2-3 days, but I wasn't alive back then :P
I've seen pictures of these with
Peace dollars, other date Morgans, and later on, smaller versions from the 60s with a pair of
Kennedy half dollars, but this one is the first one I've been able to acquire. One I saw had 1883's as well, another had 1887 Philly coins.
Almost all of the ones that I've seen with Peace &
Morgan dollars (which isn't a lot) featured cleaned or polished coins. Not many of these survived the late 70s-early 80s silver melting craze -- people melted the coins and kept or tossed out the holders.
Thought CCF might enjoy this nice piece of history as it touches on both of the things I love - cars and coins. This will be going on my office wall next to my PCGS calendar.
Posted 10/09/2016 6:19 pm
