Ok cyber slueths (Suz)

WhymeMom?

No real answers to life..
I remember as a kid going to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago and getting one of these coins stamped in a machine. The holes were great because then you could put them on a necklace (kind of like dogtags). Don't have it anymore but Marcie called it. You could stamp on what ever you wanted. Good luck with finding out about the names.....
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Talked to my mom. She said her father never went to war and she doesn't know anything about the name on the coin. Now we're all perplexed why he would keep this for so many years. She didn't even know that I had the 'purse.' Actually, it's not a purse. It's about 1X1 in. small leather coin keeper. One of those snappy close things.

I WILL PURSUE!!

Abbey
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
Those things have been around for a long, long time. I remember them too from when I was a kid.

I have a small collection of souveniers from the 1904 St. Louis Worlds Fair (my grandparents met there), just a conglomeration of weird, interesting stuff. If you go to eBay and search on "1904 St. Louis" it brings up all kinds of things from the Fair and you'll see that they were selling these even way back then right after the turn of the century. There's some like this that were apparently custom made with the names on them and there's some that have a penny encased in the center. I hope you are able to find out who those people were. Really makes you wonder, doesn't it!

I think they sold these at any kind of fair or amusement park.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
What was your grandfather's name?

His last name was Gilbert, originally from Germany.

He was an original in the Dakotas, so there is not much written record. I doubt that he went to any state fair, as there were none at that time, but who knows. I'll still try and search.

A silly coin is one thing. But, one that has a name on it is another. Darn it all. Now I have one more thing to do.

And, I just realized I misspelled 'sleuths' wrong in my title. Ok. I'm banned from the board for 24 hours. Who is going to take bets that happens?

Abbey
 

Sara PA

New Member
What was his first and middle names?

by the way, spelling doesn't count, at least as far as I'm concerned. I didn't notice. But if you want to change it, click on Edit, then Go Advanced and change it.
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Alright. I lasted 5 minutes. Whoever placed a bet won.

His first name was Joseph. I don't know the middle name.

Abbey
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
I think it was something that a little girl had made at a fair and when she won the affections of your Dad's heart it was given to him. I think LInne JO etc.....are friends he grew up with.

These came with a little beaded chain. I have several. I used to LIVE to get them at the County Fairs and Zoo. Every once in a while at a turnpike truck stop and I have a couple somewhere in blue metal, red metal, silver, and my Mom had one in gold.

I also collect coins, and have an extensive collection of stamped pennies from those same types of stamping machines.

I think this was a goodluck token or the equivalent of "BRing be back a Tshirt" in that day and age.

I bet the names are kids he grew up with.
 

4sumrzn

New Member
I have no idea! I'm very curious.

Star*.....one more time...thank you! I love reading what you have to say....... ;)
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
Gosh. I would so love to know the story. Was it random? Was it a childhood crush? Why would someone treasure this all their life? Why would my grandmother keep it? It must have some significance. I just love stuff like this. Unfortunately, there is no one alive to ask.

Sigh...I'll keep digging.

Abbey
 

WhymeMom?

No real answers to life..
Could be as simple as a friend gave it to him and it provided a good memory for him. Grandma probably kept it because it meant (or she thought it meant) something to him......then again sometimes its better not to wake sleeping dogs......
 

Star*

call 911........call 911
The kids of a small South Dakota town all were watching the clock that Sunday. There were 5 who were best friends through tough times. They had agreed in school on Friday to meet at the Cottonwood tree near the church. The bell began to ring signifying Sunday service was over and five children ran as fast as they could without being detected. They were all standing under a cottonwood tree anxious to see what the other had brought as their friendship trinket. The clouds were huge and rolling across the vast skyblue day. The sunlight was peeking through the branches almost causing a stage light effect on the first trade agreement of the children of hard working farmers. A slight breeze had kicked up just enough to cause white feathers from a nearby chicken coup and land them on the children. "This is a good omen" - said Lex to your grandfather, Linne, JO, and the other one as he peeled the feather off his Sunday best and blew it back into the wind. Everyone had met at the tree after church that Sunday to trade tokens of everlasting friendship and good luck.

Out of each little pocket from jeans and apron a treasure was pulled. Linne had a silver good luck token with his families names stamped forever in time as a reminder of a local county fair, your grandpa dug deep into his pants pocket and handed Linne the canine tooth of a real wolf. The others exchanged thier trinkets and this forever sealed the bonds of their friendship.

If ever one was in trouble all he or she ever had to do was send that token to the other friend and all would come running. In South Dakota there was little cause for trouble. An occasional Plains Indian or traveling Sioux, but no real trouble.

As time and years wore on, the war broke out. Many of our finest young men were called to service and in those last minutes of standing in his bedroom, perhaps for the last time; your grandfather quickly thought about what he could take with him to give him power over the hell he would soon face. He quickly remembered the token from his youth and scoured through the shoe box under his bed, put the good luck coin in his pocket. He did this knowing that in all the years before and his enduring friendship with Linne all their trinkets had kept them safe. So he chose this memento to keep him safe during the war, and it did.

When he returned from the war - Lyndon or Linne as he liked to be called had moved. Your grandfather never got a chance to tell him that Linne's good luck charm really worked, and kept him safe from harm. After that he carried it with him forever. For luck. For childhood memories. For Linne's friendship. And to someday give to a granddaughter that would also need some good luck.

how about that?
 

donna723

Well-Known Member
Abbey, can you tell what kind of metal it is made out of? A lot of these souveniers from that era were made of aluminum.

If you look very closely at the lettering on the names, they appear to have been stamped with some type of moveable type. Each individual letter is in it's own little square, surrounded by the little dots. Years ago when I worked at a big newspaper they still had a few of the old linotype machines around and that's how they worked. They had big racks of individual letters. They looked a lot like the keys on an old manual typewriter. The typesetter would line each individual letter, punctuation mark and space up in a frame, then lock it in place before the print could be made. In the case of these coins, the letter would be a depression in the block and the dots would be sticking up, so when it was stamped in to the metal, the letters would be raised up.

One curious thing ... there is a period after "LEX". Instead of a name, could that possibly be an abbreviation for something, maybe a town or a county?
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
It's very light, so that might be the metal. I sent the images on to my mother. Maybe she'll remember some names.

I'm fairly certain it was one of those stamped things you do at a fair. I'd just like to know the story.

Abbey
 

Abbey

Spork Queen
OMG. You found it. It is exactly as it appears in letter "F".'

Now, I just need to know the story.

Abbey
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
Abbey

You do realise that all of us now are dying to know the story behind this coin as well, right?? Cuz I know I am. lol

I hope your Mom is helpful.

Hugs
 
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