MORE ON ENCASED COINS

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V18 2015 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 18, Number 6, February 8, 2015, Article 9

MORE ON ENCASED COINS

Regarding the availability of encased Liberty Head Nickels, Alan V. Weinberg writes:

A well-known fairly accessible encased V nickel is in fact known. It is a usually choice Unc 1908 Liberty nickel in a choice Unc alum encasement for a Portland Oregon bicycle shop. I've owned perhaps 5 of them. Value today perhaps $400.

Bruce Perdue submitted the following notes and images on encased coins. Thanks! And he just so happens to have an image of one of those Portland bicycle shop pieces. -Editor

In response to Bob Leonard's comments on the Bakelite encasement;

Dating the manufacture of any encasement of a coin is problematical since the date of the coin in no way is indicative of the date it was encased. Point of fact I own an 1847 Large US cent encased in a stainless steel ring with an engraved message. Pretty sure that it wasn't encased in 1847.

In response to Bruce Smith's comments:

Encased coins are traditionally encased in an aluminum ring or washer. Brass has been used as well. However, I have a stainless steel encasement mentioned above of an 1847 Large Cent. I have encased coins of every US denomination from cent to silver dollar. I have exhibited at the Central States show my exhibit of encased coins, "A Variety of Varieties", which shows different shapes, materials and denominations well beyond the aluminum and brass material and the cents nickels and quarters.

I have a loaf of bread, a maple leaf from Canada and four of the known 14 Teddy Bear shapes. I have an image of a 1911 encased V nickel. "I bring Good Luck / Keep Me and Never Go Broke" on the obv and "Guns, Bicycles and Sporting Goods / Watt Shipp Salem, Oregon " on the rev. The close up shows that the nickel was original as the design overlaps onto the coin. I have a 1948 Dime encased in the shape of Wisconsin with a brass encasement. There are many more unusual shapes and materials out there. Of my roughly 700 plus encased pieces these were the ones to come to mind. Heck I have over 75 pieces with coins encased in Lucite.

Regarding the bakelite piece - this is a one of a kind hand-made piece. Was it issued? Probably not. Is it valuable? It might be as a curiosity....but I wouldn't bid on it on eBay. I like the Aragon Ballroom piece which is totally encased in plastic. Do you know the significance of Lick Pier and the Aragon Ballroom?

Good question. I'm stumped. What do readers say? -Editor

Richard Greever writes:

Regarding the Bakelite encasement… and Bruce Smith's comment about not being aware of liberty nickel encasements, there are several years/varieties of encasements from Salem Oregon. Unfortunately, none are in my collection.

Richard provided the following entries from his token catalog (tokencatalog.com). Thanks! -Editor

WATT SHIPP / GUNS, BICYCLES AND SPORTING GOODS.
"I BRING GOOD LUCK" / KEEP ME AND NEVER GO BROKE (encased 1913 nickel) TC-55412

WATT SHIPP / GUNS, BICYCLES AND SPORTING GOODS.
"I BRING GOOD LUCK" / KEEP ME AND NEVER GO BROKE (encased 1906 nickel)
TC-349712

WATT SHIPP / GUNS, BICYCLES AND SPORTING GOODS. / SALEM, ORE.
"I BRING GOOD LUCK" / "KEEP ME AND NEVER GO BROKE" (encased 1903 nickel)
TC-55410

WATT SHIPP / GUNS, BICYCLES AND SPORTING GOODS. / SALEM, ORE.
"I BRING GOOD LUCK" / "KEEP ME AND NEVER GO BROKE" (encased 1908 nickel)
TC-59977

GUNS, BICYCLES AND SPORTING GOODS / WATT SHIPP / SALEM, OREGON
"I BRING GOOD LUCK" / "KEEP ME AND NEVER GO BROKE" (encased 1911 nickel)
TC-51366 *** $471.00 eBay 7/08

Bob Van Arsdell writes:

Since you've been posting encased items, I thought readers might like to see an encapsulated Peace Dollar. It was issued by Buick in 1940 and is usually thought to be a prize from a sales promotion.

These tend to circulate inside the antique car hobby, so coin collectors may never have seen one. Over the years I've seen four, including one with a Morgan Dollar.

There are also Pontiac money clips with mounted silver dollars; but I've never seen any Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, nor Cadillac items. Thus the promotion involving the encased silver dollars seems not to have been a GM-wide promotion, just one specific to Buick.

The legend includes the name "Red" Custice. This would be Harlow H. Custice, who was promoted to President and General Manager of Buick in 1933. He was promoted to VP of General Motors in 1948.

Thanks, everyone! -Editor

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: FEBRUARY 1, 2015 : More on Encased Coins (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n05a12.html) BAKELITE "MOHAWK" ENCASED LIBERTY NICKEL (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n04a14.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

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