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PAPERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST NUMISMATIC SOCIETY 2014–15 PCNS publications are distributed to all active members of the Society in good standing at the time of publication. Contact PCNS regarding membership and obtaining publications of the Society. © 2015 Pacific Coast Numismatic Society — All Rights Reserved This publication and content may not be reproduced nor redistributed, either in print or digitally, in full or in part, without written permission from the PCNS Board of Governors. www.pcns.org Pacific Coast Numismatic Society PO Box 475656 San Francisco CA 94147 USA 2014–15 Papers Staff Chairman Daniel Hipple Publication Stephen Huston Judges Greg Burns William McKivor Lawrence Goldberg Jeff Shevlin 2014–15 Sponsors of the society Jerry Schimmel Dan Hipple Centennial Donors Bay Contract Maintenance Paul & Emmy Frankos Foley Electric, Inc. Integrity Casework Enterprises Landmark Builders Ron & Laurie LeDoux Michael & Angela Simon 2014–2015 pcns papers 1 Chinatown Tales: La Chinesca Jerry F. Schimmel [First Place] .................................. 2 Explaining the Most Common Designs: from Castles and Lions to Bald Eagles and Arrows Mark Benvenuto [Second Place] ............................... 11 PCNS Medal Archives William D. Hyder [Third Place]................................. 16 Chinatown Tales: Grant Avenue and Dupont Street Jerry F. Schimmel ................................................... 23 A Token from the Danish West Indies: J Müller Jerry F. Schimmel ................................................... 33 The Folsom Asparagus Gin Company Michael Wehner ...................................................... 35 France: Downfall of an Emperor Jerry F. Schimmel ................................................... 40 Notgeld Coins and More: Meissen Porcelain Mark Benvenuto ....................................................... 41 Quintera Mining Company: Only at the Company Store Jerry F. Schimmel ................................................... 45 Spanish Silver and Dollars Mex: What We Used Before 1857, What We Could Use Now Mark Benvenuto ...................................................... 48 Florence Evelyn Nesbit Thaw Herbert Miles .......................................................... 53 San Francisco Gas & Electric Company: Lost in the Mists of Time Jerry F. Schimmel ................................................... 60 The Ocean Shore Railroad: A Terrific Idea, But… Jerry F. Schimmel .................................................... 61 United Railroads Jerry F. Schimmel ................................................... 64 Table of Contents 2 pacific coast numismatic society Chinatown Tales: La Chinesca Jerry F. Schimmel I climbed down from the bus into an open air furnace. Noisy, overladen trucks dragged billows of dry dust across the pavement turning us into a gasping huddle of now ex-passengers. Our group was all Mexican except for me, and we stood waiting for our luggage from a by now grimy Estrella Blanca transport. We had just arrived from Tijuana along Mexico Route 2 traveling in reasonable, air-conditioned comfort. Our stopping point, the city of Mexicali, lay on a large piece of desert snuggled up to the international line. Barely visible on the north side were the low roofs of its smaller American sister, Calexico. Temperatures outside were well over 100. Sweating like a horse I pondered what needed doing before I continued my travels south. Not much, I concluded, which left me two hours until the Ferrocarril Nacional left for Guadalajara. There just had to be some interesting shops to poke around in like flea markets and coin stores. However, I hadn’t eaten since San Diego, and a smart-looking restaurant beckoned. Food first. Opening the door, I was assaulted by a blast of cold air from a super- efficient air-conditioner. It almost knocked me off-balance. A bigger surprise was the restaurant’s management and clientele. They were all Chinese, chattering away with each other in rapid Spanish! Now and then I heard a Cantonese phrase pass between the cooks, however, Español was clearly prevalent. After a tolerable tomato and beef over rice and good Tecate Beer I ventured out. 2014–2015 pcns papers 3 If anything, the day was hotter, drier and dustier. Nearly all shops and eateries nearby were Chinese-managed, something new to me, having spent years in cities and towns throughout Latin America and seeing few persons of East Asian ancestry. While there is a large Chinese community in Mexico City and a handful of smaller settlements on the Pacific Coast, Mexico’s biggest has always been in Mexicali. As I was to learn later, La Chinesca, the local name for Chinatown, had historic connections to the San Francisco Bay Area. Sadly, I could find no coin stores or flea markets. Eugene Moy, a Southern California historian and genealogist wrote: “Mexicali was established in 1903 as a mostly agricultural settlement, created out of the dreams of Harry Chandler, then publisher of the Los Angeles Times. Chandler built an irrigation canal to fertilize the 800,000 acres of desert land he controlled in northern Baja and Southern California.... “Many Chinese laborers who built the irrigation system stayed on in Mexicali after its completion, and settled in an area known as La Chinesca, historically located at the intersection of Avenida Madero and Calle Melgar. The city continues to have the largest Chinese population in Mexico and more Chinese restaurants per capita than any other city in that country. “Mexicali is the only border town that's a state capital, boasting Baja California Norte’s largest population, 1950s postcard views of Mexicali: title page — looking north from the Mexican side; above — Entrance to Callejón Chinesca, one of the main alleys. 4 pacifi c coast numismatic society approximately 850,000. Unlike Tijuana to the west you won't fi nd any zebra-painted burros on street corners or a bar strip designed to entice gringos.” Th e fi rst Chinese in Baja California ended up as laborers for the Colorado River Land Company. Th ey arrived mostly by sea mainly at the port of Ensenada, lured there by false promises of high wages. Others crossed later from north of the border fl eeing offi cially sanctioned anti-Chinese policies. Prohibition years in the United States (1920–1933) made border towns like Mexicali fl ourish. Yanks fl ocked to towns across the border from Tijuana east to Matamoros looking for booze, gambling and prostitution by then outlawed at home. Enterprising Chinese laborers and farmers responded by forming partnerships and pooling meagre resources into restaurants, bars and hotels — anything that held even a remote promise of better living. In 1916, against the wishes of La Chinesca, the state government of Baja California Norte shifted the city’s casinos, bars and brothels en masse into the Chinese district, a plan to make the city’s tawdry enterprises visibly less off ensive to businessmen and families in transit across the frontier. Today a reduced Chinesca survives not far from the border blending with local traditions to create a novel Chinese-Mexican way of living. It’s been more than three decades since I took that trip, and whenever I think of it I remember my hours in that unique setting. Nowadays travels are more often done in my head along with writing about coins and tokens. In my life learning their histories has always been one of the most important parts of collecting, so read on to fi nd out about a few from Mexicali. Chinese-mexiCan merCantile ComPany — C.m.m.CO. 司 公 務 商 墨 華 Th e C.M.M.Co. circulated three brass tokens in denominations of 5¢, 10¢, and 25¢, with 18, 24, and 30 millimeter diameters respectively. Th eir obverse legends 2014–2015 pcns papers 5 included Chinese characters, English numerals and English initials. Reverses were in Chinese only, and none carried any indication of provenance. However, I was still curious to know where the pieces came from. To find out I had one weak lead, a previous owner’s enigmatic note: Chinese-Mexican? Another clue was the Mahk 墨  character (obverse, second from right).  The full Cantonese name for Mexico is Mahk-sai-go  墨 西 哥, thus the Mahk character turned out to be an abbreviation. A complete transliteration of the obverse side gives us Wah Mahk Seung Mouh Gung Si which translates to the English “Chinese-Mex. Mercantile Company” (and neatly fits the four CMMCo initials). Oddly, the initials do not represent Spanish words.  In that case the name would have been Compañia Mercantil China Mexicana with the initials “Cia.M.C.M.”  On the reverses the top glyph for all three is Mei 美 or United States of America. The bottom line characters are denominations as shown: 仙 五 Ngh Sin = 5¢ 毫 壹 Yat  Houh = 10¢ 五 毫 貮 Yih Houh Ngh = 25¢ The Mei character is a short way of saying the tokens were denominated in U.S. cents, not centavos.  Mexican merchants in border localities commonly conduct business in U.S. currency. Lew Hing An obituary from the San Bernardino County Sun explains that it was Lew Hing who organized CMMCo. Lew’s relationships with the San Francisco Area were major and long-standing: OAKLAND, March 10 1934. A penniless youth when he came from China 66 years ago, Lew Hing, 77 years old, known as one of northern California’s wealthiest Chinese, is dead. The Chinese, whose first step toward building a fortune in a strange country was a job in an Oakland cannery when he was little more than 11 years old, died at his home here Wednesday night. Lew performed his work so well at the cannery that within a few years he became its owner. Later he established the Pacific Coast Canning Co. in 6 pacifi c coast numismatic society west Oakland and assumed its presidency. Banking and steamship activities also engaged his attention and he became president of the Canton bank in San Francisco and vice-president and general manager of the China Mail Steamship Company. Entering the import trade, Lew founded the Chinese-Mexican Mercantile Co. of Mexicali and the Hop Wop Lung Company of San Francisco. Retiring from active business in recent years, Lew had been dividing his holdings among his sons, Lew Gow, Th omas G. Lew and Ralph Lew. His sons and his wife were at his bedside when he died. Lew was the senior partner and investor. Under his leadership the organization adopted a support role for Chinese residents, serving as a lending bank, developer and fi nancial advisor for fi eld hands who wanted to get away from the desert. Many small and large Mexicali enterprises owe their success to Lew Hing. How were the tokens used? Probably as credit IOUs for customers and were likely issued between 1915 and 1925 during a shortage of Mexican and even of U.S. circulating currency due to the revolution. We can safely assume they served as an emergency coinage among local Chinese. So far all CMMCo tokens are rare with only one of each known. If other denominations exist they have not been reported. mariano ma Mariano Ma became a revered local community leader, a pioneer from the days when Chinese outnumbered Mexicans in the Valle de Mexicali by ten thousand to a few hundred. He was among the fi rst Chinese- born laborers who came to Mexico, one of twenty-two including his brothers Antonio and Agustín. Th e men received 50 cents a day each, 25 cents more than the cost of their daily food. Th ey lived in cabins, tents and adobe huts, even under trees when they could fi nd any. Ma supposedly told others, “In this place there were many mosquitoes. Many died because of the various sicknesses caused by the bites of fl ies and rattlesnakes, by the intense heat of the place.” Ma established himself fi rst in Ensenada in the 1890s, before hiking overland to Mexicali across 150 desert miles. For a time he settled in Los Algodones, a patch of sand facing Yuma, Arizona, forty miles east. In time he opened a restaurant and bar in Mexicali proper which is where the token was issued. In his Mexican lifetime he was variously called Ma Lean, Ma Leong and Chang Pet, and, as the story goes, was the fi rst Chinese to become 2014–2015 pcns papers 7 a naturalized Mexican citizen. In 1911, at some personal risk, he approached the commander of a local revolutionary unit to stop the troops from harassing Chinese workmen. For his contributions, a street in Mexicali was given his name, Calle Mariano Ma Lee. I would guess that he passed away in the 1920s or 1930s. Along with his mates he is seen by many as one of the founders of La Chinesca. Th e 24 millimeter token shown is the only one I’ve seen. Another was pictured in a 2011 eBay sale with a diameter of 31mm. No photo of the reverse was shown so its denomination remains unknown. Th e token was issued about the same time as those of CMMCo, about 1915–20. Its manufacturer was the Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company. Th e denomination is in U.S. cents. Avenida Francisco Madero after The Owl and allied businesses moved into Chinesca. The U.S. border is a ditch on the right side a few feet past the light poles. 1930s the a.b.w. Club and the owl Th e A.B.W. Club issued three handsome brass tokens: One Dollar, 50 Cents and 25 Cents with 38, 30, and 24mm diameters respectively. 8 pacific coast numismatic society All feature a handsomely designed owl on the obverse with business name at the top and town below. The reverse repeats the club name, adds a denomination, the year 1933, and names Joe Flores and Mike Miller. Below the two names is a tiny diesinker’s signature, L.A. Rub. Stp. Co. for Los Angeles Rubber Stamp Company, the manufacturer. The names Joe Flores and Mike Miller were not found anywhere in my research so it’s likely they were bartenders or day to day managers, a “public face” for the ABW’s large complex. Like tokens from CCMCo and Mariano Ma, the ABW tokens were denominated in U.S. currency, not Pesos, and mainly served as gaming checks much as clay chips are used in today’s casinos. Some tokens can be found with a drilled hole, a cancellation mark often found on older gambling pieces. I suspect the tokens were accepted at all of ABW’s counters and may even have been a temporary street coinage much like the CMMCo tokens. One Dollar tokens are the most common. Fifty and twenty-five cent pieces are considerably harder to find. Why include ABW tokens in what is a story about a Chinese community? Because, for the State of Baja California, Chinesca offered a good hiding place for its vice industry. Just move everything in with the Chinese as authorities in San Francisco had been doing for decades. This largest of latin chinatowns would de facto become the center of vice in Mexicali for the next twenty years, and the Owl, later ABW Club, was its largest purveyor. The name Owl was adopted by Interior scene of the ABW Club bar — 1920s postcard 2014–2015 pcns papers 9 ABW, a syndicate consisting of three Americans: Marvin Allen, Frank “Booze” Byers, and Carl Withington, Withington serving as chief investor and managing partner. Under his leadership the Owl remained open 24/7 for the years it was in business. In 1922, after a major fire destroyed its buildings, the name was switched to ABW Club. The old moniker had become too notorious. Taxes and favors from the syndicate supported the Baja government during revolution years (c.1910–20), and, in 1916, gambling provided its largest source of state revenue. By 1925, ABW controlled 95% of Mexicali’s prostitution. Its women lived under virtual house arrest in a building apart from the casino and bar, surrounded by a tall fence. One sex worker, Grace Clark of San Francisco, worked and lived there from 1919 through 1927. News reports often compared the vice area of Mexicali to San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. Uncounted numbers of prostitutes did leave Frisco in 1917 after their houses were shuttered, and many like Grace Clark went south. The date 1933 suggests two events that impacted life in the U.S. and border towns of Mexico — Franklin Roosevelt was elected President of the United States and Prohibition was repealed. Less well-known is that Roosevelt ended an eight-year border curfew which had kept the American side of the line closed from 6 pm to 8 am, a ruling which played havoc with the major transborder tourist trade. All of Mexicali’s organized houses of prostitution were closed in 1936, and, with them, the ABW Club. While ABW and smaller competitors ran the state’s biggest brothel system inside La Chinesca, not one Chinese woman was reported to be a prostitute in two decades of operation. Photo Credits Tokens & Postcards: Stephen Huston Lew Hing Photo: Wikipedia References Chang, Jason Oliver, Outsider Crossings: History, Culture and Geography of Mexicali’s Chinese Community, Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Berkeley (2010) Chik Hon Man and Ng Lam Sim Yuk, Chinese-English Dictionary: Cantonese in Yale Romanization, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong (2001) Chin Frank, “The Three Legged Toad” in Bulletproof Buddhists and Other Essays, University of Hawai`i Press, Honolulu (1998) Choy, Rita Mei-Wah, Read and Write Chinese, China Books,San Francisco (1990) Cummings, Joe, Sweet & Sour Times On The Border: A Review of Chinese Immigration to Mexico, Mexico- Connect, website (1997–2006) Estrada Barerra, Enrique, En Mexicali Los Orientales Celebran El Año Lunar Chino, Periodistas En Linea, 10 pacific coast numismatic society website (2012) Grove, Frank W., Tokens of Mexico, Self-published, Ontario, California (1989) Moy, Eugene, E-Mail Correspondence on Chinese in Southern California and Baja California (2006 and 2014) National Archives Publication #A3362, Chinese-American Mercantile Company file, Chinese Partnership Documents 19th and 20th Centuries, San Bruno, California Owyang, Lucky, E-Mail correspondence on Mexicali’s Chinese (2014) Rulau, Russell, Latin-American Tokens, 2nd Ed. Krause Publications, Iola Wisconsin (2000) Ryan, Captain Lonnie, “Baja Chinatown” in Gringo Gazette, website, San Ysidro, California (2006) San Bernardino County Sun, “Lew Hing Obituary,” San Bernardino, California, March 10, 1934 Schantz, Eric Michael, “All Night At The Owl: The Social and Political Relations of Mexicali’s Red Light District 1909–1925” in On The Border: Society and Culture Between The United States and Mexico, essays edited by Andrew Grant Wood, SR Books, Lanham, Maryland (2001) Schimmel, Jerry F., Chinese-American Tokens from the Pacific Coast, Self- Published, San Francisco (2007) Vollman, William T., Imperial, Penguin Group, New York (2009) Yoreme’s Log, Precursores de La Economia de Mexicali, B.C. website (2011) 2014–2015 pcns papers 11 Explaining the Most Common Designs: From Castles and Lions to Bald Eagles and Arrows Mark Benvenuto Introduction Throughout history, very few people in almost every civilization could read the written word. Indeed, many of the world’s languages were entirely oral, and survived for centuries, possibly even millennia, without a written form. As a few languages in our modern world became common and dominant, such as English, French, and Spanish, many languages that were never written down were lost. In so many cases native speakers have passed away and their children chose not to learn a language that the Endangered Languages Project was formed.1 Only in the past hundred years have modern nation states made efforts to educate their populations, so that they are almost fully literate. Only in the past forty years at most have those same governments tried to save any endangered languages within their borders. This then is the background setting for us concerning two images seen countless times on coins from two nations, Spain and the United States of America. The House of Castile and Leon Much of the history taught in the different state school systems within the United States deals with the settlement of this country by the British. Numismatists are often aware that during the colonial era the lands that would become the United States of America were kept cash- poor as a matter of official British policy, and that the coins of the Spanish Empire in the New World were used to facilitate a great deal of daily commerce. Therefore, the images on Spanish coins were most likely familiar to the people living in the thirteen British colonies. The shield seen on the reverse of Spanish imperial coins has changed numerous times over the course of several centuries, but a form of it continues to exist on the coins of Spain even today.2 Numismatists often divide Spanish imperial coinage not by monarch, but by design, such as the Pillar and Waves design, the Castles and Lions design, and the Portrait design, also called the Imperial Coat of Arms design on occasion. 12 pacifi c coast numismatic society Th e coat of arms illustrated here is that of King Charles II of Spain, who reigned from 1665–1700, is one of the more complex versions of any coat of arms a Spanish monarch utilized. But all the design elements have a meaning, at least for those who can read such symbols. While there is a highly specifi c, traditional language used to describe any coat of arms, let’s use straightforward English in order to make the under- standing of it as clear as possible. Starting in the upper left quarter, one can see the two castles and lions. Th is is the main image of the House of Castile and Leon. On the oldest Spanish colonial coins, the crudely made cobs, this was the entire coat of arms which was displayed. Th us, simply knowing the coat of arms of Castile and Leon becomes an excellent starting point for identifying the earliest coins of the Spanish colonies in America. But Spain was more than these two houses, and their combined lands. Th e upper right corner or quadrant shows the gold and red stripes of the House of Aragon. Today Aragon is a state in the northeast of Spain. About the time these symbols were added to Charles’ coat of arms, Aragon was much larger, and encompassed both a large part of what is now eastern Spain, and the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily, as well as much of southern Italy and even a small portion of modern Greece. Th e lower right and left corners are each further divided. Th e red and white of the Austrian fl ag are shown to the left, while the fl eur de lys of France appear to the right. Th e Austrian connection is that the royal houses of Spain and the Hapsburgs of Austria intermarried, which gave the Spanish monarch claims to lands there. Th e fl eur de lys are symbolic of the House of Burgundy, which also married into the Spanish royal house. Th e diagonal stripes in the lowermost left of this coat of arms is another symbol of Burgundy, and the yellow lion in the lowermost right is the symbol for Brabant, an area in modern Belgium and Holland. Again, royal marriages meant that the Spanish king could lay claim to some far-fl ung areas still within Europe. 2014–2015 pcns papers 13 Right in the middle of this coat of arms is a small, apparently flowering pomegranate. This is the symbol of the kingdom of Granada, located in the southeast of present-day Spain. A kingdom under the House of Castile, like many of the smaller kingdoms that would become modern Spain, it was officially abolished as an independent kingdom in 1833. The final two pieces of this coat of arms are the small black lion on a yellow background, and the red eagle, both of which come together to form a shield in the lower center of the greater shield. The lion is the symbol of Flanders. The eagle is the symbol of Tyrol, an area straddling the modern Austrian-Italian border. As to how these two symbols made it onto this rather cluttered coat of arms, well, if you guessed by some form of royal marriage, you’d be right. Almost all of this design is seen on the later 8 reales coins of Spanish Mexico and Peru. For aficionados of such pieces, we must mention that we have omitted the two pillars which very often flank the coat of arms. These two columns represent the Pillars of Hercules, and have been associated with Spain for centuries. The Latin words, Plus Ultra, seen on the ribbons that wrap about the pillars, mean: further beyond. Since almost everyone in our modern world can read, this multi-image coat of arms may indeed seem like a strange way to represent both a monarch and a kingdom. Yet this is precisely how the royal houses of Europe chose to represent themselves to friend and foe alike. The people of the Spanish Empire knew this symbol. This resonated with them as much as the Stars and Stripes resonates with us today. A Heraldic Eagle The original leaders of a brand new United States of America may have discarded the rule of a British king for whom they had little love, but they did not cast aside all the symbols of their age and time. Rather, they adapted what was already known, and so created symbols for our new nation. The bald eagle as one of the national symbols of the United States goes back at least to the development of a strong, federal government. According to the “American Bald Eagle Information” website: The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength and majestic looks.3 In numerous articles on early United States coinage, some mention has been made that Benjamin Franklin was against using the bird as a symbol, and was in favor of the turkey in its stead. But the eagle has rather obviously taken the center stage, and what is often depicted 14 pacifi c coast numismatic society on offi cial US seals of various government offi ces is what is called a heraldic eagle, holding an olive branch and a bundle of arrows in a decidedly unnatural pose. Th e idea of the eagle being posed in a heraldic way — which is quite odd when one considers how the bird fl ies — is simply one taken from European heraldry. In the coats of arms of several other nations, eagles are posed in such a fashion. Th e coats of arms of Imperial Russia and of Poland serve as just two examples. Th e Tyrolian eagle on the coat of arms of Charles II that we just examined is another. Th e eagle is usually not alone when shown as a heraldic device representing the United States. Th e olive branch in the eagle’s right claw is an ancient symbol of peace. Th e dove mentioned in the Bible in the Book of Genesis brings an olive branch back to Noah as the Great Flood receded, as a symbol that land is again present above the water. Th us, the olive branch becomes a symbol that God’s wrath has passed. Placing it in the eagle’s right claw — the right being the primary claw or hand or appendage — is a sign that the United States wants peace rather than war. Th e arrows in the left claw of the eagle are often thought of as a symbol of the United States’ readiness for war, if it should come to that. Th e idea that there are thirteen arrows, the same as thirteen original states, indicates that the entire nation will go to war as one, again if need be. But the symbol of the arrows in the The Great Seal of the United States of America 2014–2015 pcns papers 15 eagle’s left claw has more to it than is usually mentioned. After all, the citizens of the new nation did not usually use arrows for hunting or warfare. They used long rifles, muskets, and perhaps cannons. No, the native peoples used arrows more than the English colonists who would become the citizens of the United States. In fact, the multiple arrow image may very well have been taken from the Iroquois Constitution, more officially called the Great Law of Peace of the Longhouse People. Within it, there is a passage that reads: Five arrows shall be bound together very strong and shall represent one Nation each. As the five arrows are strongly bound, this shall symbolize the complete union of the nations. Thus are the Five Nations completely united and enfolded together, united into one head, one body, and one mind. They therefore shall labor, legislate, and council together for the interest of future generations.4 Five arrows represent the original five nations of the Iroquois Confederation. Thirteen arrows represent the original thirteen states of the new United States. One is hard-pressed to consider this a mere coincidence. Symbols Today? These symbols seen on the modern coins of Spain and the United States, which many of us take for granted today, are actually centuries old, and have origins that have in some cases been forgotten. Yet the marriages of different royal houses, the symbols and images that represent them, and the old symbols that represent a new nation are all pieces of a continuing history. A deeper understanding of them gives us a feel and knowledge of the world in a former time when few could read, and when such images served to tell the stories of their nations. End Notes 1. Endangered Languages Project. Website accessed 29 June 2014, as: http://www.endangeredlanguages. com/ 2. Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre. Website accessed 29 June 2014, as: http://www.fnmt.es/en/ home 3. American Bald Eagle Information. Website accessed 29 June 2014, as: HYPERLINK "http://www. baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/eagle9.html" http://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/ eagle9.html 4. The Great Law of Peace of the Longhouse People. Website accessed 29 June 2014, as: http://www. manataka.org/page135.html Images Spanish Arms and Great Seal, both in the public domain, were adapted for print by Stephen Huston. 16 pacific coast numismatic society PCNS Medal Archives William D. Hyder Harmon, H. L. Hill joined them the next week, June 24, along with Fred T. Huddart, where the assembled group voted to form the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society (PCNS), and Huddart was elected president. A few years later, Farran Zerbe designed the Society’s seal based on ideas developed by PCNS Secretary Steinman. PCNS members adopted the design on August 26, 1919. Who exactly completed the final image for the seal remains unknown, although Society records provide the ultimate tease As we celebrate our 100th Anniversary and develop our anniversary medal, a review of the Society’s archives produced a few interesting artifacts. Eight men gathered in the San Francisco office of I. Leland Steinman on June 17, 1915 to propose forming a new society for coin collectors. Those present in addition to Steinman included Alfred Twitchell, Basil Brandon, A. Reimers, M. L. Miles, Charles F. Cox, A. C. Nygren, and Farran Zerbe. Joseph Barnet, Rudolph Fig 1: Brenner’s letter and partial transcription of the text from the PCNS archives. 2014–2015 pcns papers 17 for the designer’s identity. In January 1920, Victor D. Brenner wrote Secretary Steinman that he was ready to show him the “plaster cast for your club.” (Figure 1) Brenner executed the seal for the New York Numismatic Club (of which Zerbe was also a founding member) in 1909. Steinman nominated Brenner to an Honorary PCNS membership in December 1919. Brenner’s application included two NYNC presidents as references, Moritz Wormser and Howland Wood, both of whom served as presidents of the NYNC. In addition, Howland Wood served as chair of the ANA Board of Governors (a position that carried the clout equal to the president at the time) and playfully spoofed Brenner’s NYNC seal in 1909. Moritz Wormser would serve five terms as ANA president in the years following 1920. The August 1920 issue of The Numismatist carried notice of the design adopted as the seal for the Society. The design was first used on the Society’s 25th Anniversary medal, the first officially issued by the Society. It was explained in detail (see figure 3, next page): The setting sun is suggestive of the Pacific, the great ocean that takes on from “Westward Ho!” to the Far East and whose waters and moisture wash the shore and nourish the great fields and forests of the motherlands, Oregon and California territories, from which have been carved the Pacific Coast States. In the foreground, mining at left and forestry at right, is depicted the two gifts of Mother Earth found by the pioneer and the foundation on which has been built and evolved the great Western coast country. Within a double-line circle surrounding this central device, PACIFIC COAST NUMIMATIC SOCIETY. ORG. SAN FRANCISCO. 1915. The Society aims to extend its influence to eight Western states, which are named, commencing at bottom reading from right to left and divided by a five pointed star—CALIFORNIA OREGON ARIZONA UTAH NEVADA MONTANA IDAHO WASHINGTON each in a line with and within a double-line bordered octagon. Figure 2: Victor D. Brenner’s PCNS membership application. 18 pacific coast numismatic society The San Francisco firm, Patrick & Moise–Klinkner Co., struck the silver medal from dies engraved by F. H. Johnson of San Francisco. The medals were announced at the April 24, 1940 meeting with an issue price of $3.30 for delivery at the twenty-fifth annual meeting to be held on June 29. Records indicate 60 were struck, although it may have been more. An aluminum piece was recently acquired in an Ebay auction. (Figure 4) The 1940 die broke when Medallions Unlimited attempted to use it to strike a sixtieth anniversary medal in 1975. The obverse die, engraved The seal is octagonal, typical of the Pioneer gold coins of the Pacific Coast. The sun’s eight major rays are representative of the Society’s original eight members who met and formed the organization June 24, 1915. Considering eight states, eight stars, eight original members’ major rays, and eight sides, Secretary Steinman has commented “Some piece of eight!” which is quote apropos numismatically, since the “piece of eight” was the coin mostly bought, sought and used by the pioneers. Figure 3: clipping from the August 1920 issue of The Numismatist Figure 4: The PCNS 25th Anniversary medal 2014–2015 pcns papers 19 by Borus Buzon, featured the San Francisco Palace of Fine Arts building, one of the few architectural survivors from the 1915 Panama- Pacific International Exposition. The new reverse die appears to be the same as the original die, although minor differences are readily apparent when placed side-by-side with the 1940 issue. The broken 1940 die resides in the archives. Close comparison with the 1940 medal shows that the edges were ground down to a slightly smaller size and the face was damaged, perhaps as a result of being secured to a lathe so the diameter of the shank could be reduced or perhaps by an attempt to rework the die to minimize the effects of the cracks. Whether accidental or deliberate, the die was rendered unusable. (Figures 5 & 6) The 1975 logo die was paired with the 60th anniversary obverse die designed by Borus Buzon. The original plaster model and galvano reside in the PCNS archives. The Figure 5: The PCNS 1940 die after being resized to fit the Medallions Unlimited press. Die breaks at 3 and 9 o’clock, and the center of the die shows evidence of being damaged, perhaps when secured to a lathe. Figure 6: The PCNS 1975 replacement die created by Medallions Unlimited. 20 pacific coast numismatic society Palace of Fine Arts, a surviving building from the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition tied the PCNS anniversary to the PPIE. (Figures 7 & 8, above) A blank die was likely produced at this time as well since uniface logo die medals were ordered to use for awards. Right, figure 9: Blank die used to produce uniface award medals Top, figure 7: The finished plaster cast of Borus Buzon’s design for the obverse of the 1975 60th anniversary medal (left) and the galvano (right) used to produce the working die. Below, figure 8: The 1975 60th anniversary die produced by Medallions Unlimited 2014–2015 pcns papers 21 The 800th meeting was celebrated in 1982 with an obverse die patterned after the 25th anniversary medal. Medallions Unlimited produced the die and medals. (Figure 10, top) When time came to produce a medal for the 75th anniversary, the Society could not find a mint capable of producing an octagonal medal. Masterpiece Medallions produced an inexpensive round die for the obverse and a new logo die in the round. (Figure 11, above) The Society celebrated its 1000th meeting with a medal featuring Farran Zerbe, the traditional founder of the PCNS. The Medallic Art Company was able to produce an octagonal medal and use the 1975 octagonal logo die. The plaster cast of Zerbe’s portrait executed and signed by Durek resides in our archives. The galvano and finished die reside in the Medallic Art archives. (see figure 12, next page) With the advent of computerized design and die production, a fourth octagonal logo die will be created using the original logo drawing as Above, figure 10: The 1982 8ooth Meeting medal die Below, figure 11: obverse die for the 1990 75th anniversary medal and the 1990 round PCNS logo die 22 pacifi c coast numismatic society published in The Numismatist and the medal produced in 1940. Was Brenner’s original plaster used to produce the 1940 logo die? We will never know since the Society no longer has the “plaster” presented by Brenner. Th e 1920 drawing shows a distinctive curved letter style for the state names to conform to the circular inner design. I presume Brenner would have captured that lettering style in his rendition of the logo. Th e 1940 die uses standard letter punches, so the Brenner plaster may have already been lost. Fortunately, suffi cient artifacts and ephemera survive in the Society archives to spark our curiosity as we begin our second hundred years. referenCes “Tokens and Medals of the Pacifi c Coast Numismatic Society” David W. Lange and Michael F. Wehner. Papers of the Pacifi c Coast Numismatic Society 2002, pp. 1–14. Th e Archives of PCNS Photos All images prepared by the author, William D. Hyder Figure 12: The plaster model produced by Durek used to produce the obverse die for the 1000th Meeting medal. 2014–2015 pcns papers 23 Chinatown Tales: Grant Avenue and Dupont Street Jerry F. Schimmel GRaNT AVENUE — narrow and colorful with sidewalks just wide enough to squeeze by on, designed long ago for Californians who rode horses to town or walked. It’s the main passage through Chinatown running in a straight line from Market Street all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf. Th e Chinese part starts with the Bush Street gate and ends at cluttered Broadway. Bush Street Gate on an elongated 1980-P U.S. Cent Tourists in bunches heedlessly block the narrow route to gape at colorful buildings and exotic signs. Harassed shopkeepers wrestle packing cases away from the curb while serious- looking Chinese-American men and women brandish big-ticket briefcases and elbow their way through fl owered shirts, cutoff s and baseball caps. Above street level pagoda structures cast sawtooth shadows downward onto the pavement. On the ground splashy emporiums beckon to all with an overabundance of cameras, fl ip-fl ops, T-shirts and gaudy toys. But not to worry. Two and three star restaurants and a few better shops declare that San Francisco’s celebrated district has not entirely declined into kitsch. It wasn’t always called Grant Avenue. From July 1847 to the early 20th Century, our white forefathers named it Dupont Street after Rear Admiral Samuel Dupont, one of the operational top brass in the Mexican War. Before then the street had a Spanish name adopted in 1835, Calle de La Fundación. Th e phrase translates to “Street of Th e Founding,” a tongue-twister for most Grant Avenue between Sacramento and California streets looking south. Note the Sing Chong building at center left and Far East Cafe at lower right. 1930s postcard 24 pacifi c coast numismatic society of us. “Th e Founding” was a major happening in the village of Yerba Buena, as San Francisco was then known. Th e pre-San Franciscans had just acquired a Mexican alcalde (mayor) to organize the settlement’s fi rst municipal regime. Grant Avenue got its name in pieces. Dupont from Market to Bush became Grant Avenue in 1886, after our late President. In 1908, the remaining section was given Grant’s name including the long blocks north of Broadway. It hasn’t changed since. While white city fathers tediously debated their choices, Chinese residents quietly chose their own name, which is still used by many: 都 板 街 (Dou-Ban Gai). Th e phrase is the closest Cantonese speakers could get to the English of Dupont Street and has no meaning other than to approximate English sounds. In recent years street signs have carried a small attachment upon which Dou-Ban Gai is imprinted in Chinese characters. Th e rest of this write-up is given to stories about medals and tokens issued by shops and eateries along Dou-Ban Gai — accompanied by as much history as could fi t into a handful of pages. the far east Cafe 遠 東 酒 樓 Th e front of the Far East Cafe should have been something else. What does it in is the lifeless awning and overuse of shiny aluminum for doors and windows unlike the “old fashioned” marquee in the postcard shown at the beginning. Whatever shortcomings the outside may present are made up for by the interior. Th e high-ceilinged inside is pleasantly dim with hand-carved wood separators, Chinese theme chandeliers and a small sparkling bar. Th e food is decent which makes the Far East well worth a stop. A few years back large medals were distributed to the old owners and their well-wishers. Shown is a 3½ inch diameter, gilt aluminum disc with a ¾ inch square center hole looking very much like an oversized, but fl ashy, Imperial cash coin. Th e Views of the Far East Cafe — 2010 2014–2015 pcns papers 25 legend declares that it was made for the bistro’s 50th anniversary, but for whatever reason the date of commemoration was not mentioned. Current proprietors knew nothing about the medal nor had ever seen one. I have not run across another and think that few were handed out. Most recipients or their families probably kept the others. But I still needed to know when it was issued. Th e search for the cafe’s commemorative year was a bit involved. I easily found Far East Cafe in city directories going back to the early 1930s, but not before. A 1930s date would have placed the medal’s production sometime in the 1980s, however, its general appearance is a bit earlier which helped limit my search. Th e next possibility was to fi nd the cafe’s name in Chinese, preferably published in the English alphabet. San Francisco telephone books are often more helpful than city directories when tracing early Chinese merchants. I found the Far East listed as Yuen Tung Low (Far East building) back to 1920, but not earlier. I concluded the medal was produced in 1970. Th e large Chinese glyphs on its obverse read Far East Restaurant. Th e two smaller characters, Jing Fauh 埠 正, represent an old Chinese name for San Francisco, which literally means Main Port. Th e reverse of the medal shows a phoenix at left and a dragon at right facing one another across the center hole. Th eir eyes are fi xed on a ball- like object at the top, a “pearl,” with Far East Cafe 50th Anniversary Medal (reverse reduced) 26 pacifi c coast numismatic society fl ames issuing from the sides. An old tale says that the two creatures together made an exquisite pearl out of a small stone, and it became their pride and joy. However, in a fi t of envy the Heavenly Empress secretly snatched the gem away launching the bereft pair into an ages-long search for their loved one. Both are depicted with mouths and eyes wide open in delight as the trio is once again united. In days of yore, pearls were associated with truth and life. Th e Phoenix was a female symbol of the empress, warmth, sunshine, summer and harvest. Th e masculine dragon became an advisor to the powerful, a guardian and symbol of goodness and strength. As the story goes dragons who lived in the sea were inordinately fond of pearls, piling them into heaps and jealously guarding them in grand watery palaces. the sing Chong ComPany 生 昌 公 司 Th e Sing Chong Company (Prosperous Life Company) occupied the fi rst two fl oors of 601–611 Grant Avenue from 1905 to 1970, though it was shuttered briefl y after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire. Asian art, furniture and ceramic specialties, especially Chinese products, were its stock in trade. Th e fi rst manager was community leader Look Tin Eli, born in Mendocino, California, who later founded the fi rst Bank of Canton. He passed away in 1919. Architects T. Paterson Ross and A.W. Burgren designed and built the Sing Chong structure in 1907. Th eir remarkable work still stands on the northwest corner of California Street and Grant Avenue with few changes. In the years after Sing Chong’s closing the street level rooms became in turn a McDonald’s, the Chinatown Wax Museum and no doubt other forgettable enterprises. Th e 21mm brass token would have been used for outgoing telephone calls made by store staff . Nickel- size metal checks like Sing Chong’s 2014–2015 pcns papers 27 were commonly used in saloon slot machines with a typical reverse legend: Good for 5¢ In Trade. However, Sing Chong’s piece shows no denomination, like most tokens made for telephones. Since Sing Chong catered to middle and upper class white and Asian customers, any device associated with saloons or cigar stands would have been banned from the premises. Note the small diesinker’s signature at the obverse bottom, MOISE K. CO., a wording not employed before 1907. Since “Dupont St.” is part of the address, and the street name change to Grant Avenue did not occur until 1908, an issue date of 1907 is a certainty. have allowed a penny-rolling machine inside or even on the sidewalk by the door. The nearest example would have been at least a block away and likely owned by someone else. The legend on this piece reads “Chinatown, San Francisco, Cal.” and shows the northwest corner of Grant Avenue and California Street. Elongated Cent Images of Sing Chong’s building are widespread, found on dozens of postcards and websites, one of a number of travel brochure icons like the Golden Gate Bridge and Coit Tower. Here the building is shown on a 39x21mm elongated cent souvenir dated 1944S. Like slot machines Sing Chong would never Medallic Ashtray (reduced) In place of rolled pennies Sing Chong gave its customers 3½ x 2½ inch medallic ashtrays. This one was molded from a tin alloy and decorated in the center with a gilt image of Confucius with the impersonal phrase “Confucius Trade Mark” above. Below the portrait is “Compliments of Sing Chong Co., 28 pacific coast numismatic society Chinese & Japanese Bazaar, Dupont at California” etc. At the edge two dragons circle the whole in a counter- clockwise direction. At the top is the character fu 福 — prosperity. At the bottom is sauh 壽 — long life. On the frame around Confucius are three lines of Chinese in tiny, super- fine print. I didn’t bother translating them other than to say that the store address is included as well as a mention of objects d’art for sale. The address “Dupont at California” tells us that the ashtray was made at the same time as the token, probably to celebrate the store’s re-opening after the previous year’s Earthquake and Fire. Anonymous In times past brass pieces like the two below were found at Chinatown souvenir stands and art goods shops, usually in a small dish next to the cash register. They were given to customers as a favor or perhaps sold at a small cost. Sing Chong would have been the kind of shop to do this but elected instead to give out eye-catching ashtrays. The Far East Cafe might have done so as well, but any place catering to customers with money was likely. Duck Chong, Ling Nun and Pekin shown below certainly did not. These “coins” had no cash value, their purpose being to serve as “Good Luck” pocket pieces or counters in games like mah-jong. Based on appearance and style the possible dates of issue for the octagonal piece are 1895–1910, the square token 1915–1935. Like the Far East medal both are modeled after imperial cash coins. Octagonal brass (23.5mm) Obv: Souvenir Rev: (t. to b.) 福 fu 寿 sauh;  (r. to l.), 福 fu  壽 sauh. Both sets of characters read: prosperity and long life. The two sauh characters are versions of the same word. Square brass (23mm) Obv: Souvenir Rev: (t. to b.) 長 cheung 命 ming ; (r. to l.), 貴 gwai 富 fu. Both sets of characters together read: a long life, noble and wealthy. Duck Chong and Company 德 昌 酒 房 The Duck Chong name was found in the June 1902 phone book listed as Duck Chong, liquors, 1016 Dupont Street. Its Chinese name ironically stood for “Moral Life Drinking 2014–2015 pcns papers 29 House” — dak-cheung-sa-fohng. Located on the downhill side of Dupont between Jackson and Pacifi c streets, its rear entrance abutted the Chinese bagnios of Bartlett Alley. Oddly, its 21mm token was struck in aluminum, not a handy metal for slot machines or telephones. Tokens made for machines always required some heft because light pieces tend to jam the apparatus. Th e specimen I examined was reasonably worn and without the nicks and scars of machine use. Th e most likely explanation is that it was a tally for drinks sold by bar girls. Th e small diesinker’s signature, IRVINE S.F., was not employed after April 1906, when all Chinatown enterprises were wiped out in the Earthquake and Fire, including Duck Chong. ling nun ComPany 嶺 南 烟 杕 Ling Nun was short-lived. Directories record the shop from May 1905 through April 1906. English alphabet listings show Ling Nom Yin Lum at 1003 Dupont Street. Th e shop stood near the northwest corner of Jackson and Dupont across from Duck Chong. Th e meaning of the longer, four- character Chinese title is a bit murky, taken from the Chinese language section of the phone book. Ling Nun and Ling Nom are spelling variations of the term Ling Nam, which literally stands for “Southern Mountains.” In China’s Guangdong Province it’s the title for an area called “South of Th e Five Ridges,” locally spelled Lingnan. Th e word Nun on the token may be a diesinker’s error or yet another dialect variety. Yin means “cigarette” or “smoke” which suggests that the business was a cigar stand. Lum means “forest,” or at least a lot of trees. What the reference to trees may signify is beyond my resources, but there is a possible explanation. Th e late Walter Lee, of the old Chew Chong Tai store, once at 905 Grant Avenue, said that sometimes when shop owners added partners they also added names to the business title, names that would make no sense to outsiders. For example, in its early years Chew Chong Tai Company was simply Chew Chong. Possibly it was the same with Ling Nun. Th e 21mm brass token is another of the earliest for Chinatown. Th e six point star center hole identifi es it as a token for machine use, probably slot machines which were present 30 pacific coast numismatic society in every San Francisco cigar store and saloon until 1909. Like Duck Chong’s token, Ling Nun’s bears the tiny diesinker signature: IRVINE S.F. Native Sons of The Golden State: San Francisco Parlor Thomas Chinn tells us that The Native Sons of The Golden State first organized in 1895. “The purposes of the organization were to show the members’ pride in being Americans and their patriotism toward the United States, and to seek avenues of advancement into the mainstream of American life.” The society evolved from the frustrations felt by American-born and long-term Chinese residents as they looked for work or places to live, or simply travelled through a not always welcoming society. After early organizational issues the parlor was re-constituted under the leadership of Walter U. Lum in 1904. By 1912 the association had moved to 945 Grant Avenue from its decade-old office on Kearny Street. From 1912 to 1915 other parlors opened in Fresno, Los Angeles, Oakland and San Diego. A major issue arose when out-of- state Chinese-Americans wanted to join and could not because the by- laws required California residency. In 1915, Lum and his associates remedied the matter. They prepared a new charter and changed the Native Sons name to The Chinese- American Citizens Alliance, available to anyone of Chinese ancestry wherever they lived in the U.S. The first out-of-state branch Pekin 北 京 樓 酒 Pekin was a post-earthquake restaurant at 1111½ Dupont Street between Pacific and Broadway, on the northernmost block of Chinatown’s main street. Its first meals were served as Sing Chong reopened five blocks south, mere weeks before Dupont Street turned into Grant Avenue. From 1908 and ten years after, the Pekin served excellent roast duck and Dim Sum. The token is the most common size and metal of all San Francisco pieces, 21mm in diameter and made of brass. The word PEKIN and characters 京北 make up the obverse legend. The two glyphs translate to Bei-jing, capital city of The People’s Republic of China. The word Pekin is an earlier and now discarded term for the same. The reverse says simply “Good For 5¢ In Trade” and was exchangeable for drinks or cigars. Made for a slot machine. 2014–2015 pcns papers 31 of prosperity,” or something close to that. Perhaps some old-timer from the Citizens Alliance can give us a better translation, but as with many Chinese organizations it is not easy to get information unless you are a member or know someone. The organization name, “Native Sons of the Golden State,” resembles the title of and perhaps pokes fun at another long-standing fraternal organization. The diesinker name on the reverse was first used in 1909, though both Irvine and Jachens had been in business since the 1890s. The firm is still operational but long since relocated to San Mateo County. The badge was manufactured about 1912. Chinatown San Francisco’s Chinatown has a Chinese name of its own — tangrenbu. Oddly this title is three words lumped together from the northern Chinese dialect that we call Mandarin. ”Oddly,” because San Francisco’s traditional dialect has always been Cantonese. The word opened in Chicago in 1917, and others soon followed. By 1921, the national headquarters had re-opened at 1044 Stockton Street, where it has been for almost a century. In 1985, Brenham Place, a Portsmouth Square alley, was given Lum’s name. The serious-looking badge is gilt bronze with a 40mm diameter and loop at the top for ribbon and hanger. Its border has a clever design of California poppies. The obverse Chinese characters and English words read as follows: 金 源 同 埠 大 / Native Sons / (California State Seal) / of the Golden State / San Francisco Parlor The reverse is blank and unadorned except for a tiny diesinker’s signature at the top: IRVINE & JACHENS / S.F. The Chinese motto on the obverse is not easy to translate. It reads something like “Great Port City is the same as a Source of Gold,” that is “(Chinese) San Francisco is a source 32 pacifi c coast numismatic society Tangrenbu translates to “People of the Tang Dynasty” (aD 618–907), though to Chinatown veterans it’s become an informal reference to anyone of Chinese descent. Frank Chin slyly comments that southern Chinese identify with the Tang dynasty while northerners prefer the Han (BC 206–aD 220). Tangs gave the world great art, he says, and the Hans produced an even greater bureaucracy. Here’s how the name is written in Chinese: 唐人埠 (tang-ren-bu). Photo Credits Tokens, ashtray & medals: Stephen Huston Restaurant, Fu Dog, and street scenes: Donna Dion referenCes Chik Hon Man and Ng Lam Sim Yuk, Chinese-English Dictionary: Cantonese in Yale Romanization, Chinese University Press, Hong Kong (2001) Chin, Frank, “Th e Th ree-Legged Toad” in Bulletproof Buddhists, University of Hawai`i Press, Honolulu (1998) Chinn, Th omas W., Bridging The Pacific: San Francisco Chinatown and Its People, Chinese Historical Society of America, San Francisco (1989) Giddens, Sandra, and Giddens, Owen, Chinese Mythology, Rosen Publishing Group, New York (2006) Lee, Walter, late proprietor of the Chew Chong Tai Company, informal talks, San Francisco (1990s) Schimmel, Jerry F., Chinese-American Tokens from the Pacific Coast, self- published, San Francisco (2009) Schimmel, Jerry F., The Old Streets of San Francisco: Early Street Names on Some Brass Tokens, Pacifi c Coast Numismatic Society, San Francisco (1993) Tchen, John Kuo Wei, Genthe’s Photographs of San Francisco’s Old Chinatown, Dover Publications, New York (1984) Ying Ren Rong, “Ray”, a Shanghai man and patient advisor on all matters Chinese. San Francisco City Directories, various years. San Francisco Telephone Directories, various years. Chinatown Guardian Lion, popularly known as a Fu Dog (2013) 2014–2015 pcns papers 33 NOT maNY AmERICaNS KNOW about our U.S. territory in the Caribbean, Th e Virgin Islands. Th ey once existed as the Danish West Indies and have been under U.S. control since 1917. Before that the archipelago actually had a Danish administration that began around 1670. A wide range of coins and paper currency were issued for use during the Scandinavian centuries utilizing a variety of mint-struck and counterstamped coins and paper currency. Less is known about the token series. Starting in 1888 a series of more than 65 diff erent metal checks in small denominations were issued A Token from the Danish West Indies: J Müller Jerry F. Schimmel by 22 merchants for 1¢, 5¢, and 10¢, mainly on St. Th omas and St. Croix islands. Th e tokens were outlawed in 1892 by Danish authorities when many issuers refused to redeem the value of their tokens. However, the series served as a short-term emergency minor coinage. Th e series is diff erent in one way from others issued in the Caribbean area, or anywhere. Th ey were based entirely on the silver value of the Mexican dollar, or Eight Reales. An example of one token shown here is from J. Müller & Co., made of brass and 23mm in diameter. Both sides are the same. Some collectors and 34 pacifi c coast numismatic society researchers have mistakenly assumed they were of Mexican origin. J. MÜLLER & Co / 1c / MEXIC / ✿ ST THOMAS ✿ Th e legend tells us the token was valued at 1¢ in Mexican silver. While the Caribbean islands were awash with the specie of diff erent governments in various weights and denominations, Mexican silver had a stable value backed by the Mexican mint. Presumably one hundred of such tokens would get their owner a whole Mexican 8 Reales coin. For many this would never be the case. John Francois Müller was located in St. Th omas from 1868 to 1890, according to J. Sømod, selling out later to Delinois, Fonseca and Pearson, each of whom issued their own tokens. token Photos Stephen Huston sourCes Higgie, Lincoln W., The Colonial Coinage of The U.S. Virgin Islands, Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, Wisconsin (1962) Sømod, Jørgen, Mønter fra Dansk Vestindien, Forlaget Zac, København (1980) 2014–2015 pcns papers 35 The Folsom Asparagus Gin Company Michael Wehner I LIKE aSpaRaGUS. And I have been known to enjoy a gin martini once in a while. However, the combination does not sound like a natural one to me. However, at the beginning of the 20th Century, asparagus gin was sold by at least one fi rm in San Francisco. Described as “very agreeable and pleasant to the taste,” it was composed of the juice of fresh asparagus and Double Stamp Gin.1 It is not clear when the concoction was fi rst developed, but it is described as a new product in the 1915 Monthly Bulletin of the California State Board of Health.2 Th is source goes on to say that statewide some 50,000 pounds of asparagus stalks were used in 1915 to make Asparagus Gin. Th at’s a lot of hooch. For some, Asparagus Gin was touted to be a health tonic because asparagus, like ginger, was widely considered a diuretic. It was labeled as a remedy for kidney and bladder diseases. But, as was common at the time, these claims of medicinal value were false. Th e California Bureau of Chemistry stated that asparagus gin “is of no value in the treatment of diseases of the genito- urinary tract and that, in fact, it is contra-indicated in all genito-urinary conditions.” 3 In other words, it is bad for you because it is gin. the rothenbergs A large brass token, good for a drink of asparagus gin, was a promotional eff ort by the Rothenberg Company on Front Street in San Francisco. M. Rothenberg and Company was Obv: GOOD FOR ONE / DRINK / ASPARAGUS / GIN / FOLSOM BRAND / • AT ANY BAR • Rev: REDEEMED BY / * THE * / ROTHENBERG CO. / 140 FRONT ST. / SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. Brass, 30mm 36 pacific coast numismatic society first listed in the 1891 San Francisco city directories4 as “wholesale liquors” located at 423 Kearney Street until the 1906 earthquake. It would appear that Mendle Rothenberg, a San Francisco resident and the owner of this company, had a relative named Samuel B. Rothenberg who lived in Oakland but whose company S.B. Rothenberg and Company (wholesale wines and liquors and agents) was nearby at 117 Battery Street. This latter firm was the exclusive distributor of Old Judge Whiskey and first appeared in the city directories in 1899. Samuel even had a telephone at this time. Both firms have separate directory listings up until the earthquake, although Samuel was replaced by Louis Rothenberg as manager in 1900. S.B. Rothenberg and Company would become “The Rothenberg Company” in 1901, with Louis as the president. As is still the case, liquor stores were often the victims of crimes. The San Francisco Call newspaper lists a few instances where bad checks were passed or liquor stolen from the Rothenbergs. The fire following the 1906 earthquake burned these downtown neighborhoods, and the Rothenbergs had to relocate. In the 1907 San Francisco/Oakland combined directory, the Rothenberg Company would temporarily relocate to 844 Franklin Street in Oakland. Henry Rothenberg and Company (wholesale liquors) was listed as 609 Sansome Street in San Francisco. Henry was also the vice president of the Rothenberg Company. M. Rothenberg and Company was listed as 2714 Pine Street (near Divisadero Street) in San Francisco. This was Mendle’s residence and was outside of the devastation caused by the fire. Israel Rothenberg joined Mendle’s firm according to the 1908 San Francisco directory and was probably his son as he lived at the same address. The devastation of the city did not quench its thirst. By 1910, the Rothenberg Company would relocate to 140 Front Street in San Francisco, the address on the token, where it would remain until Prohibition in 1918. During Prohibition, some of these Rothenbergs sold “wholesale dried fruits.” One wonders if some bootleg could be had for the right price. After Prohibition ended, it would not be long before the family was back in the San Francisco liquor business. In the 1935 city directory, Albert Rothenberg had a liquor store at 441 Eddy Street, yet another downtown address. Advertisement in the 1917 San Francisco Chronicle Classified Directory. A 1917 San Francisco newspaper advertising directory lists the 2014–2015 pcns papers 37 California Asparagus Gin Co. as also being located at 140 Front Street.5 A light green bottle with the words ASPARAGUS / GIN / ROTHENBERG CO. molded into it further establishes that this company was likely owned by the Rothenbergs.6 The Folsom Asparagus Gin Company Norman W. Folsom was employed in 1901 as a winemaker for the St. George Vineyard on Brannan Street near 8th Street in San Francisco according to the city directory of that year. It may seem strange today for a winery to be located within the city limits. However, it was not uncommon then as several wineries had warehouses south of Market Street. There is at least one reestablished winery there today using that history as an advertising ploy.7 In 1913, Norman’s occupation is listed in the directory as “rectifier.” According to a 2008 Industry Advisory from the Department of California Alcohol Beverage Control:8 Rectification is any process or procedure whereby distilled spirits are cut, blended, mixed or infused with any ingredient which reacts with the constituents of the distilled spirits and changes the character and nature or standards of identity of the distilled spirits. This modern definition is an accurate description of the gin making process where “botanicals” are infused into pure alcohol. By 1916, Norman had his own firm selling “liquor” at 229 East Street. That street is now called The Embarcadero. In 1917, the year the patent was granted, the Folsom Asparagus Gin Company, with Norman listed as the superintendent, opened at 350 Clay Street in San Francisco. The newspaper advertisement shown above also lists this company with W.A. Horton as the manager. The brand name of their product is “Fag- Co. Asparagus Gin.” Sometimes the hyphen is omitted. Two related bottles are known. A light green one has FOLSOM / ASPARAGUS / GIN CO. molded into it. The other is clear glass with a paper label and came in a cardboard box stating the alcohol content at 30% and extolling the virtues of the product. This company is listed again in the 1918 directory but did not survive Prohibition. In 1917, patent 100,252 was granted to the Folsom Asparagus Gin Company of San Francisco.9 Their 38 pacific coast numismatic society logo, seen in the patent office gazette, shows two bears holding a bunch of asparagus. This was also used on the paper labeled bottle and its box. The fact that there were two asparagus gin companies not three blocks apart raises some questions. The reference to “Folsom Brand” on the Rothenberg token implies some sort of relationship between the two firms. Were these the same company? Or did one supply the other? Who else was in this gin business leading to the consumption of 25 tons per year of asparagus? So what did asparagus gin taste like? It is hard to know as the product has not been made in nearly a century. Nor is the process that Norman Folsom patented readily available. He may have distilled a mash or simply infused asparagus into gin and filtered it. Auction records reveal several nearly full bottles with paper labels were sold since 2010, but it would seem unlikely to still be drinkable. Photos indicate the liquid is green, perhaps suggesting an infusion, but 100 years is a long time and discoloration could be a factor. An adventurous individual, posting on his internet blog, described an infusion process for making asparagus gin.10 His review was that straight up drinks like a martini were unpalatable but it worked well as a bloody mary or gin and tonic base, mixing well with tomato juice or tonic. I will leave to the readers to experiment on their own! The token is rare, the pictured example being the only the second one known, and it is unlisted in the printed catalogs. This and the other token were both sold on ebay in 2014, possibly by the same seller. In such cases, it is possible that a hoard exists. Time will tell. A pair of companion asparagus gin bottles are pictured in Polak’s bottle book,6 one from the Rothenberg Co., the other from the Folsom Asparagus Gin Co., but I am unable to locate the auction records. Downtown San Francisco locations mentioned in this article. 229 East was likely near where Washington Street met the piers. 2014–2015 pcns papers 39 Endnotes 1 Lesley J. Solmonson, Gin: A global history, Reaktion Books, 167pp, 2012. 2 California State Board of Health Monthly Bulletin July 1915, (freely available on books.google.com) 3 W.F. Bailey, Asparagus in California: The Culture, Marketing Problems and History, Bulletin #1 (1916) State Commission Market of California: (freely available on books.google.com) 4 San Francisco city business directories from 1850 to 1982 can be found online on the San Francisco Public Library’s website: http://sfpl.org 5 1917 San Francisco Chronicle Classified Directory: http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sanfran ciscodirectory/1917b/1917b_46.pdf 6 Michael Polak. Antique Trader Bottles Identification & Price Guide, 7th Edition, Krause Publications, 552pp, 2012. 7 Our appellation? South of the Slot. The Bluxome Street Winery. website: http://www.bluxomewinery. com/the-story 8 California Alcohol Beverage Control website at http://www.abc.ca.gov/ trade/Distilled%20Spirits_%20 May%202008.pdf 9 Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office, Volume 236, March 1917 (freely available on books.google.com) 10 Asparagus Gin — Raiders of the Lost Cocktail Cabinet XV. website: https://summerfruitcup. wordpress.com/tag/asparagus-gin/ 40 pacifi c coast numismatic society France: Downfall of an Emperor Jerry F. Schimmel NapOLEON III WaS CapTURED BY the Prussian army on September 2, 1870, at Sedan, along with his ill- prepared army — an event putting him out of business after a reign of twenty years. Earlier in the year, Louis-Napoleon, as he was known to his family, had declared war upon Prussia. He was not an accomplished soldier like his famous uncle, and, against the judgment of his generals, stayed with his troops in the fortress at Sedan. Th ere he was forced to surrender with what was left of his army of 180,000. He died in England three years later. Th e French public was quick to disown their leader, one result of which was a numismatic bonanza of possibly hundreds of satirical medals and altered coins. Most collectors have seen these in one form or another at shows. Here are two. and bottom read Napoleon III Le Miserable and 80,000 Prisonniers. Th e reverse features an owl perched on a cannon over crossed bones. Th e inscription above the owl is Vampire Francaise. Th e dates 2 Decbre 1851– 2 Septbre 1870 are below the owl. Th ere are many variations of satirical Napoleon coins, many being alterations of the actual coins, usually the copper dix centimes. Remodeled coins normally involve a Prussian helmet being engraved on Napoleon’s head and changing the eagle on the reverse to a vampire owl. Th e obverse of this 25mm brass piece shows the head of Napoleon III in a Prussian helmet smoking a cigarette. Th e name Sedan is shown on his collar with two chain links attached. Th e two inscriptions at top Here’s a hand-punched counterstamped message on the obverse of an 1861 dix centimes: VENNU / AUX / ALLEMANES / A / SEDAN (Th e Germans came to Sedan). Photos Stephen Huston referenCe Wikipedia, June 2013 2014–2015 pcns papers 41 Notgeld Coins and More: Meissen Porcelain Mark Benvenuto Introduction Numerous collectors assemble sets of one type or denomination of coin, and pass by many other series without a blink. When it comes to those coins that many of us consider off the beaten path, this translates to some beautiful pieces that end up being under-collected. This is not a condemnation, as we are all free to collect in any way we’d like. But there are some gorgeous series that can be both fun and educational to collect and learn about. One series that falls into this zone very often is the porcelain coins produced for various German cities and states right after the end of the First World War. become known as Meissen porcelain escape. Years and decades passed, and through them, in both times of peace and war, the Meissen company continued to grow and produce several grades of porcelain for sale throughout Europe. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the firm was not in the business of making coinage, although it did make an ever wider selection of porcelain items. The tables of the wealthy definitely became places where the beauty and functionality of Meissen porcelain was seen. World War I & Notgeld The end of the First World War was an economic disaster for Germany. Even though the German army had not been defeated in the field, the nation’s leaders had signed the surrender for their fatherland at History of Meissen & Porcelain Porcelain, especially porcelain used in table settings, is still called China or Chinaware by many people simply because that is where it first came from historically. The Chinese had mastered the art and science of making porcelain, and were smart enough to trade it widely long before Europeans were able to duplicate the recipes and formulas. Both the source materials and the firing and baking processes were closely guarded secrets. But in the early 1700s, the secret of porcelain was discovered and the process of its manufacture harnessed by Johann Friedrich Böttger, and thus the monopoly of the Chinese companies was broken. Mr. Böttger was himself a prized asset, and the nobleman who was his patron kept him in what might be described as genteel captivity for some time, rather than let him and the secret of what would 42 pacifi c coast numismatic society Versailles, and among its many provisions was Clause 231, popularly called the War Guilt Clause. Th is part of the treaty eff ectively made Germany the debtor to the victorious allies, and, among other things, drove coined money out of circulation. Into the void stepped what is called Notgeld. Th e word is a compound of two German terms, Not meaning need and Geld meaning money. So, this is eff ectively the money of need, or emergency money. Most Notgeld was made from metal, invariably base metals such as copper, brass, nickel, and iron. Collecting it can become a lifelong passion, and a wonderful way to learn the location of hundreds of towns and regions of Germany and even of Austria. But other materials such as coal, wood, and yes, porcelain, was used for emergency money as well. Since the Meissen porcelain works were over 200 years old at the war’s end, the company was well situated to meet the demands of city and regional governments to provide porcelain coinage while the post-war depression ran its course. Many municipalities used Meissen porcelain as coins, with the most popular being a dark maroon formulation. Meissen porcelain coins have been studied and catalogued, but remain far enough from the mainstream, that most collectors do not avidly collect them (yes, there are some exceptions). Th e prices for Meissen coins are not as cut and dried as those found in standard catalogues; and thus there is still some room to negotiate purchases between dealer and collector. Common pieces, such as those from Sachsen (above) can usually be purchased for $5–$20. Rarer pieces, or medallic issues, often cost more. Th e Meissen porcelain Notgeld, like the vast array of metal Notgeld that was issued after the war and into the 1920s, had pretty much faded into obscurity by the time the national socialists — the Nazis — had taken over the German government. Numismatists who do try to assemble sets of porcelain coins note that there are some Meissen pieces sporting the swastika, for the company certainly did not disappear between the two world wars. As with many collectibles, Meissen porcelain medals and other such pieces sporting a swastika do tend to cost more than that which was just mentioned. Post-world war ii In 1945, for the second time in less than 30 years, Germany saw itself as the loser in an enormous war. Th is time, the Allies did indeed beat the German Army in the fi eld, 2014–2015 pcns papers 43 and actually occupied the entire nation. Th e four victorious allied powers diced up the Th ird Reich into four zones of occupation, and the town of Meissen, along with its porcelain factory, ended up in the Soviet zone that would eventually become the DDR — the Deutsche Demokratische Republik — popularly known in the west as East Germany. One might think that the Meissen factory would disappear under a communist state government, but such was not the case. Rather, a wide variety of events were commemorated with a medal made from Meissen porcelain. Th e accompanying photos of Meissen medals are shown actual size. Both maroon medals celebrate some accomplishment in the DDR. Th e type shown above celebrates construction projects. Th e example on which the state symbol of East Germany appears prominently, was given to members of the Volkskammer — literally, the People’s Chamber — which was at least in name the governing body of the nation. (below) 44 pacifi c coast numismatic society the fall of the berlin wall On October 3rd 1990, East Germany was reunited with West Germany, to again become one Federal Republic of Germany. Th e Berlin Wall, a long- time symbol of Communist regimes to the east and the repression they represented to the minds of those in the west, had its gates thrown open, and in the next few years the idea of private companies again took root in eastern Germany. And in this greater process the Meissen factory again took a place on the world stage when it came to manufacturing fi ne porcelain. Th e Meissen catalogue is now available on-line, and locations where Meissen porcelain is sold worldwide are also available at their website. But Meissen medals still are part of the greater Meissen output. Th e white porcelain piece displayed above shows the crossed swords Meissen trademark very prominently on the reverse, and celebrates the millennium of the coronation of King Heinrich II. It is one of many diff erent Meissen medals, and while it is not a proper piece of Notgeld — for Notgeld have coinage values written on them — it is the next step in the continuing story that is Meissen porcelain. It is also a collectible that many of us might wish to examine in more detail. sourCes The Book of Meissen, 2nd Edition, Robert E. Rontgen, Schiff er Publishing, Atglen, PA. Meissen Porcelain Identification and Value Guide, Jim Harran and Susan Harran, 2005. Meissen Porcelain (Shire Collections), John Sandon, 2010. Meissen’s Blue and White Porcelain: Dining In Royal Splendor, Nicholas Zumbulyadis, 2006. Meissen Couture, Home Deco, Zeitlose Eleganz, available as a pdf on Meissen Couture 1710 website: www.meissen.com/en Photos Taken by the author, Mark Benvenuto; edited for print by Stephen Huston. 2014–2015 pcns papers 45 Quintera Mining Company: Only at the Company Store Jerry F. Schimmel FROm THE AmERICaN MINING MaNUaL 1900–1910: Mine offi ce: Aduana, Alamos (municipio), Sonora, organized May 4, 1888, under laws of Great Britain revised 1901. Property considered valuable, but in a remote section that is without even wagon roads. Operations suspended since 1911 owing to Mexican Revolution. Mine is impossible to operate until peace is restored to the country. Th e Quintera mine site lies about nine miles west of Alamos, Sonora, named after a peon who stumbled across a few shiny stones during his rounds. Th e site opened in colonial times and was worked on and off for a century, probably much longer. After an 1888 Th e controversial tokens were manufactured by L. H. Moise of San Francisco, probably in the early 1900s, if the diesinker signature is any indication. Th e mine used at least fi ve diff erent designs: the one photographed, a 33mm octagonal brass piece for $1 (shown as 100); 23.5mm square brass 25; pentagonal 22mm brass 10; and a 15mm round brass 5. British acquisition, Quintera became highly profi table through the next two decades extracting mostly silver. Investors received dividends up to fi fteen percent! Large scale work on the mines was suspended in 1909 for reasons not recorded, although one of them may relate to the company's history of monopolizing local water supplies, denuding hills of timber and illegally paying workers with tokens instead of cash. At any rate there was widespread resentment throughout the municipio (county). Eventually the company was forced to change its policies and pay an indemnity to the city of Alamos. We can assume that the Mexican Revolution was the fi nal straw in closing the Quintera. 46 pacifi c coast numismatic society Th e fi fth piece, 23mm brass, was originally issued by the Ocháran Company of Palmarejo, Chihuahua, for its small railroad line. As the story goes leftover stocks were apparently brought to Aduana through a commercial relationship between Quintera and Ocháran. with the mine for cashing in the scrip, usually at a discount. Besides overcoming the diffi culty and danger of importing ready cash, another advantage of tokens was that the company could pay almost its entire payroll in common metal, disturbing only a few pesos of working capital. And tokens were not as subject to destruction as were paper slips sometimes used at other mines. Today tiny Aduana is barely more than a church on the humblest of plazas, a country store, hotel and two local handicrafts cooperatives. Th e abandoned mine overlooks the hamlet from its hillside position. PalmareJo Palmarejo was another tiny mining community in the mountainous southwest of Chihuahua on the road from Temoris to Chínipas. Oscar Ocháran, of Alamos, operated the narrow gauge railway between Palmarejo and Chínipas issuing fare tokens for use by either passengers or freight customers. All tokens, including the Ocháran pieces are found counterstamped with a small bovine head, though occasionally some are seen without. Th e Quintera $1 token and the Ocháran piece are moderately common to scarce, the others rare. Like coal mine scrip used in the Eastern mountains of the U.S., tokens in the very beginning were little more than credits advanced against wages. Given the fact that most employees earned barely enough to live on there was often little left on payday. If the company operated its own store (in Mexico, tienda de raya) the worker could draw goods against his personal account. Tokens could also be used at other local establishments if the proprietors had a prior arrangement 2014–2015 pcns papers 47 His company, Ocháran y Cia. of Palmarejo, also issued a note (above) dated September 6, 1888, for twenty-fi ve centavos payable in Chihuahua banknotes or their equivalent in silver coins and signed by Jesus Almada. It was payable in moneda corrient at an 8% discount. illustrations Drawings and map by the author Photos by Dan Hipple and Stephen Huston referenCes American Mining Manual, website (2013) Grove, Frank W., Tokens of Mexico, self-published (1989) Patria Mapas de Los Estados — Chihuahua, Libreria Patria, Mexico D.F. (1970s) Patria Mapas de Los Estados — Sonora, Libreria Patria, Mexico D.F. (1970s) Prendergast, Simon, Paper Money of Sonora, Archivegrid website (May 2013) Stevens, Irma C., compiler, State of Sonora, Mexico: Privately Issued Store Cards and Tokens, Azteca Numismatic Society (1970) 48 pacific coast numismatic society Spanish Silver and Dollars Mex: What We Used Before 1857, What We Could Use Now Mark Benvenuto Introduction Just what sort of money were we using in 1776? Thirteen different colonies clinging to the western shore of the Atlantic Ocean were under British rule at the beginning of that year, and would proclaim independence in the middle of it. Certainly all of them had and used money of some sort. Much of it was paper currency, and many of the people were deeply suspicious of the value and worth of paper money. Silver coins were one of the mainstays of the everyday economy, but during all the years that encompassed what we now call the Revolutionary War, and the years after in which the fledgling nation was governed under a series of Articles of Confederation, there was no unified coinage. As well, there was not any real, circulating US silver coinage. Doing business across a state border was more akin to conducting business in a foreign country than anything else. While the coins of several European nations were used in everyday commerce, the “big kid in the playground” as it were, was still Spain. Specifically, the Spanish colonies south of the young United States produced enough silver coinage that the thirteen newly independent states could basically use what was exported up to the north. This actually has some interesting implications for assembling any collection of early American coinage. Casa De Moneda in Mexico City When the ink was drying on the United States’ Declaration of Independence, the mint in Mexico City had already been producing coins for 241 years. That’s longer than the United States has been a country today. It was 1535 when the first coinage came from the Mexico City Mint, under the supervision of Antonio de Mendoza, the Spanish viceroy at the time. At least two things had changed there by 1776, though. The designs were one. The output — enormous by the time of US independence — was another. The now famous “pillars and waves” design had been replaced by what is called the Spanish milled dollar, and then by what today we might consider the more standard image of a Spanish monarch on the obverse, and a royal coat of arms on the reverse. As far as the big 2014–2015 pcns papers 49 8 reales — the silver dollars of the Spanish system, really — the switch from pillar to royal portrait design was made in 1772, although in popular culture both are sometimes called pieces of eight. It was King Charles III who graced the first of the portrait dollars. Thus, for any collector of coins used in the early US, it’s probably fair to add a pillar dollar of Charles III (the pillar and coat of arms, or Spanish milled dollar, did say CAROLUS III on each) as well as a portrait dollar. After all, both were most likely circulating in the US, and the only thing resembling a United States silver dollar in the earliest years of the republic were the extremely rare Continental Currency coins, some of which are made of silver. A Parade of Spanish Kings By the eighteenth century, Britain and France had definitely been on the rise for generations when it came to empire building, but the Spanish kings still commanded great power in the New World between 1776 and 1857 (a date we’ll get to in a moment). The just-mentioned Charles III reigned from 1760 to 1788. His royal father Ferdinand VI, sometimes called Ferdinand the Learned, had reigned from 1746 to 1759, and deserves mention because his coins too were probably in circulation in the US when we moved from colonies to country. The 8 reales of each monarch probably circulated in the colonies and new states. Both could be added to an “early American” collection. The next Charles, meaning Charles IV, ruled Spain and all its colonies from 1788 to 1808. Some of the earliest 8 reales coins of his reign proclaim his name on the obverse legend, but display the portrait of his dearly departed dad. By 1791, both name and portrait were of the same man, and the mintages of the 8 reales pieces, as well as of most of the silver minors, were continuously large. Thus, adding silver of Charles IV to a collection might be another way to lay claim to some of the working silver dollars used in the young US. In the year 1794, the hatchling United States Mint in Philadelphia got around to coining 1,758 silver dollars. Owning one of them today, even in the worst of conditions, usually means parting with enough money to buy a pretty good automobile. The mintages did rise after that, but to nothing near the levels of the Spanish 8 reales. By the time US silver dollar production was halted in 1804 by order of President Jefferson, it is probably fair to say that the total output of US silver dollar coins during 1794–1804 wasn’t any greater than a single year of Spanish 8 reales production in Mexico. Maybe. Since Charles IV was on the Spanish throne until 1808, it’s plain that owning an 8 reales from the later part of his reign is probably the easiest way to own 50 pacific coast numismatic society a silver dollar that circulated in the young U.S. It was Ferdinand VII who sat on the Spanish throne from 1808 to 1821, with plenty of times in the midst of those years when real power lay in the hands of Napoleon (who had accepted Ferdinand’s abdication at one point). Since there were no United States silver dollars at all during this period, the only coin a person can claim for their collection as a silver unit coin of the US would be one of the 8 reales of Ferdinand. Like many of the 8 reales of his forbears, these are generally available to collectors today. Revolutionary War — of Mexico Too often we forget that ours was not the only revolutionary war, or war of independence fought in the western world. Mexico had its very own years of bloodshed and turmoil, from its declaration of independence in 1810 all the way up to the official end of that war in 1821. Therefore, post–1821 silver coins of a newly- independent Mexico generally sport a liberty cap with rays on one side, and an eagle grasping a snake in its beak on the other. Admittedly, there are a few years right after independence was won when the coinage of what is called the Empire of Iturbide was issued with different designs. But for collectors wishing to add another silver dollar to a collection of coins of a young US, the “cap and rays” dollars, as they are often called, makes a good piece, since they were really the only game in town prior to the US Seated Liberty dollars that sport the design artwork of Mr. Christian Gobrecht. Dollars Mex For today’s collector, the change from royal portrait to liberty cap dollar means some sort of step down in terms of price, and rather unfortunately in terms of prestige. This can be a bit ironic, since the cap and ray dollars actually have their value and fineness proclaimed as part of the design, just under the cap. A person today could actually assemble and entire date run of these, from 1824 up to 1857, without expending too much of their own hard earned cash. The terminology changes from “8 reales” to “peso” during this time. On the world stage though, for these coins were used in more places than just Mexico and the US, the name had become “dollars Mex.” These big, silver coins commanded the respect of merchants and banking houses as far away as the port cities of China. Just A Couple of Bits, Please One other addition to a growing collection that a person might wish to consider, assuming we wish to think of Spanish and Mexican silver as equal to early US silver, is some cut piece of an 8 reales coin. While it might be hard for us to think of today, back when Spain’s influence on Mexico was waning, and the US 2014–2015 pcns papers 51 was growing west from the eastern seaboard, the big silver coins were sometimes quite literally cut into pieces to make change. Finding a “4 reales” or even a “2 reales” piece today, or even a little “1 real” piece of pie-shaped sliver of the bigger coin, made by some strong and clever soul who cut a larger coin with an axe, sword, or knife, can be a wonderful coincidence. Not many people actively collect them. Not many folks, dealers or collectors, can simply look at one and quote a price for it. These old, mutilated pieces might be one of the last bastions of true collector haggling today. The value of any such piece has to be both a matter of how good it looks, and how well it was cut. The Change of 1857: 34th Congress. Sess III., Chap LVI We have mentioned the year 1857 twice thus far. It had been almost sixty years since the United States Mint was authorized before Congress decided it was once and for all time to end the use of Spanish and Mexican coinage in the US. The wording of the act was legally precise and quite encompassing: Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the pieces commonly known as the quarter, eighth, and sixteenth of the Spanish pillar dollar, and of the Mexican dollar, shall be receivable at the treasury of the United States, and it several offices, and at the several post-offices and land- offices, at the rates of valuation following — that is to say, the fourth of a dollar, or piece of two reales, at twenty cents; the eighth of a dollar, or piece of one real, at ten cents; and the sixteenth of a dollar, or half real, at five cents. Sec.2 And be it further enacted, That the said coins, when so received, shall not again be paid out, or put in circulation, but shall be recoined at the mint [and] Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all former acts authorizing the currency of foreign gold or silver coins, and declaring the same a legal tender in payment for debts, are hereby repealed.1 And while there is more to the wording, this pretty firmly ends the chapter of US history in which Spanish and Mexican silver coinage could be used for everyday transactions. But it also gives a person a clear, crisp, exact date from which to claim that all prior silver coins can qualify as coins that could have been used in the US. Mexico Pillar-type 2-Reales of 1756 52 pacific coast numismatic society Finally? It may seem odd to connect the events of so distant a past with possible events today, but two of our current United States have brought to the table — or to the state house and senate floor — the idea of again making a hard money, a coinage, in which people would have more faith than the predominantly paper money of the United States of America. Both Utah and Arizona have taken the step of making it legal to use gold and silver coins for payments once again.2–5 It has certainly not become commonplace to settle transactions in these two states with silver dollars, or pillar dollars, or dollars Mex. But it is curious indeed to see whether or not the wording of our Thirty- Fourth Congress. Sess. III., Chap. LVI will end up being overturned, and whether there will be a new chapter in collecting the coins that circulate in the United States. Photos 2-Reales photograph by Stephen Huston End notes 1. Library of Congress. Transcript of the Thirty-Fourth Congress, website accessed 28 April 2014: http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=011/ llsl011.db&recNum=184 2. Utah Legalizes Gold, Silver Coins as Currency. The Huffington Post, website accessed 26 April 2014: http://www.huffingtonpost. com/2011/05/22/utah-gold- standard-silver_n_865333.html 3. Utah: Forget Dollars. How About Gold. CNN Money website accessed 26 April 2014: http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/29/ news/economy/utah_gold_currency/ 4. Arizona Becomes Second State to Approve Gold and Silver as Legal Tender, Yahoo Finance website accessed 26 April 2014: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/ daily-ticker/arizona-becomes- second-state-approve-gold-silver- legal-131138074.html 5. States seek currencies made of silver and gold, CNN Money, website accessed 26 April 2014: http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/03/ pf/states_currencies/ 2014–2015 pcns papers 53 Florence Evelyn Nesbit Th aw Herbert Miles In 1901, the most famous face and, perhaps, the most beautiful woman in the United States was a child, 16 year old Florence Evelyn Nesbit, and this is her story. You may think that Britanny Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, and, for us older folks, Marilyn Monore, are the fi rst of a breed of publicity-seeking, morally suspect, beautiful women whose notoriety sells huge quantities of newspapers, books and magazines. But, you would be wrong. Indeed, they may be the descendants of the fi rst modern American woman to captivate the general public; and they may also fade in the glare of Florence Evelyn Nesbit’s supernova light, that is, if you know the tale. Her story begins in 1884 or 1885 when she was born in the small town of Tarentum near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father was a small town lawyer and her mother, a homemaker. Evelyn’s early childhood was unremarkable, but upon the death of her beloved father when she was about 10, her world changed forever. Th e death of the sole breadwinner in the late 1800s meant that Evelyn, her younger brother, Howard, and her mother were thrown into poverty unless taken in by other family members. Of course the extended family members had their own mouths to feed and bills to pay. Th ey could not permanently care for three additional charges. Evelyn’s mother attempted to obtain employment as a seamstress, having a natural sewing ability. But she was ill-equipped to fi nd work having been a homemaker all those years, and her lack of confi dence, lack of experience (no formal Paris training!), and perhaps her fear of leaving the children alone kept her from succeeding. She managed a boarding house for a bit, but even collecting the rents during those hard times was beyond her ability to do successfully, so she began sending her 11 year old daughter to collect the rents, believing that residents would have Evelyn Nesbit at age 16, 1901 54 pacific coast numismatic society difficulty saying “no” to a young girl. Naturally, a boarder with little or no money can say no to anyone, even a child. Periodically Mrs. Nesbit sent the children to live with relatives on nearby farms so she could travel to Pittsburgh or Philadelphia to look for seamstress work or any other gainful occupation. She finally obtained work as a salesclerk in Wanamaker’s, a Philadelphia department store, and was successful in getting additional work for her young daughter and son at the same location. It appeared the family might be able to make ends meet and move forward. However, the 12 hour days for 6 days a week had a negative effect on her young son Howard. He was sent back to a relative’s farm near Tarentum to recover while she and Evelyn continued to work at Wanamaker’s. But Evelyn’s life changed forever at age 12 as she was wandering down Philadelphia’s Arch Street one Sunday admiring the clothing and material in the shops. Reflected in one shop’s window was a woman staring at Evelyn. Introducing herself as Mrs. Darach, a local portrait artist, she invited Evelyn to pose. Evelyn brought her mother to Mrs. Darach’s studio later that same day and received one dollar for a 5 hour sitting! Average hourly wages at that time for females amounted to between 10¢ to 18¢ per hour. Another local artist, John Storm, also requested weekly sittings and soon Evelyn was posing for many local Philadelphia artists including Violet Oakley, who had received stained glass training under Louis Comfort Tiffany, Jessie Wilcox Smith, and Elizabeth Shippen Green, all women graduates of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Oakley used Evelyn’s adolescent face and figure to portray angels, doll heads, and other heavenly figures on stained glass in a number of churches in Philadelphia, and perhaps even in New York. Evelyn’s fame spread and other artists used her for long sittings; professional photographers commented on her ability to hold poses for hours and also began to photograph her. Evelyn and her family’s future seemed secure, but suddenly in 1900 her mother decided to go to New York, the 2014–2015 pcns papers 55 center of modeling, to increase Evelyn’s success. She took letters of introduction provided by the artists to introduce Evelyn to New York’s artist community, but left her children behind with relatives until she could secure something for the family. After months of fruitless searching for work for herself and after exhausting what funds Evelyn had earned, she sought out noted painter James Carroll Beckwith, showing him photographs of her then 15 year old daughter. Beckwith, immediately entranced, wanted to meet the model in person. Soon thereafter, he introduced her to other legitimate artists and her angelic and malleable face and figure began appearing on all manner of media. Postcards, calendars, magazine covers, advertisements, from toothpaste to beer to Coca Cola trays, sheet music, pinbacks, advertising mirrors, and more all featured her likeness. Postcard, undated, but circa 1902; taken by Rudolph Eickemeyer. Evelyn is wearing one of Stanford White’s antique Kimonos. Charles Dana Gibson portrayed her as the Eternal Question of inscrutable femininity in 1903. 56 pacific coast numismatic society She was more famous at this time than any woman had ever been in the United States; more popular than Kim Kardashian could ever hope to be! teeth, paid for her music lessons, moved her mother into a nicer hotel, and otherwise made himself indispensable to their lives. The foremost architect in New York, he had designed many of the homes of the rich and famous, the Whitneys, Vanderbilts, and Pulitizers. He designed Madison Square Garden, Penn Station, and hundreds of other monuments and buildings in New York, and was friends with Augustus Saint Gaudens, one of the foremost sculptors of the day and designer of the $20 gold piece minted from 1907 to 1933. White was a known debaucher; young girls were his prey, and Evelyn was his newest target. Upon entering her mother’s and her life, he wined and dined Evelyn, then drugged the youngster one night and took her virginity in his midtown “love nest,” the one with the red velvet swing. White loved to see Evelyn swing naked on his red velvet swing, swinging higher and higher until she kicked through a paper parasol he positioned discreetly above her naked legs. Though difficult to believe after White’s admitted debauchery, Evelyn declared later in life that he was the only man she ever truly loved! White was smitten but, alas, there were other chorus girls to entice him and his affair with Evelyn lasted only about a year. In her attempts to make him jealous, she took up with a variety of famous and rich suitors, John Barrymore, among them, but Broadway beckoned and she chose to become a chorus girl at the tender age of 16 in Floradora, a popular musical production at the Moorish Casino, lying or shading her true age from the producers. At age 16, she hardly knew that Broadway chorus girls were considered no more than gold diggers at best or prostitutes at worst. It was merely exciting for her and more fun than hours and hours posing sedately, even though she continued her lucrative posing during the day. Stage door Johnnies appeared in abundance, but 46 year old Stanford White, architect of the elite and moneyed class, introduced to Evelyn by another chorus girl, thrust himself into her life. Although married, he bought her gifts, repaired her 2014–2015 pcns papers 57 Harry K. Thaw, a Pittsburgh son of wealth, wore her resistance down and won her over with ceaseless entreaties. Such a marriage was a mistake as Harry K. Thaw was either insane or seriously demented. For many years, Harry had regarded Stanford White as an impediment to his entry into high society and now after Evelyn’s confession of White’s behavior, Harry knew that White was a “beast” who had debauched Evelyn and many other teenage beauties. Shaw seethed inside at the mere mention of White. Thaw had White followed and his transgressions reported to the local police hoping they would prosecute him for taking advantage of numerous young chorus girls, but to no avail. Circumstances came to a head a little over a year after Evelyn’s marriage to Thaw. On June 25, 1906, in an amphitheater on the top of the Stanford White-designed Madison Square Garden, Harry K. Thaw shot White 3 times at point blank range, killing him instantly then declaring White had, “ruined his wife, and had it coming to him.” The ensuing legal proceeding was called the “Trial of the Century” and featured all the trappings of modern society: chorus girls, tales of debauchery, the rich and famous being brought low, scandals, theatrical excesses, and more. Newspapers tripled and then quadrupled their circulation as the trial of Thaw commenced. Evelyn, who had been famous as a face of advertising and beauty gained even more notoriety. Her face as drawn by courtroom artists graced hundreds of newspapers for weeks as the trial progressed. After 11 weeks, the first trial ended in a hung jury; a second trial followed where Thaw was declared insane and committed to New York’s Matteawan Asylum for the Criminally Insane until he could be declared competent. Florence Evelyn Nesbit Thaw was approximately 21 years old! Can one’s life peak at age 21 and then slowly grind along until death? Perhaps that was Evelyn’s fate. Even though her testimony was crucial for keeping Harry from the electric chair, the Thaw family disowned her, 58 pacific coast numismatic society leaving her facing poverty once again. For a while, she continued her chorus girl work, made Vaudeville appearances, developed a song and dance act with new partners, wrote her memoirs twice, and eventually opened a ceramics studio in southern California. There have been rumors of drug abuse, suicide attempts, and other human transgressions, but who knows? She finally succumbed to death in 1967, 61 years after the “Trial of the Century.” Nevertheless, as portrayed in books and movies, she will be known forever as the “Girl in the Red Velvet Swing,” the most titillating fact in her short time with Stanford White; Evelyn reduced to no more than an oddly sad over-sexualized image. For the row house at 22 West 24th Street where Stanford seduced 16 year old Evelyn, it fell into disrepair and collapsed in 2011, leaving nothing but a pile of bricks. One viewer commented at the sight of the rubble, “It was just another old New York building. There were rats on the bottom and pigeons on the top.” Left: from a postcard featuring White’s New York University Library, and Evelyn seated nude on the “Red Velvet Swing” Below: Music Sheet, circa 1915, 30 year old Evelyn in the circle 2014–2015 pcns papers 59 And as for Florence Evelyn Nesbit Th aw — once the most beautiful and popular woman in America — among the dross, numismatists have a proliferation of Good For advertising trade mirrors with her likeness to keep her young forever. Advertising mirror featuring 16 year old Evelyn: GOOD FOR 10¢ IN TRADE at Hotel Raymond, Fitchburg, Mass Photos All photos provided by the author sourCes American Eve — Crime of the Century, Paula Uruburu, Riverhead Books, 2008 Tragic Beauty, The Lost 1914 Memoirs of Evelyn Nesbit, John Long Ltd, London, 2006 Evelyn Nesbit and Stanford White, Love and Death in the Gilded Age, Michael Macdonald Mooney, William Morrow and Company, New York,1976 Ragtime, movie directed by Milos Forman, 1981 New York Times, March 23, 2011, “Th e Girl, the Swing and a Row House in Ruins.” Arts & Crafts Quarterly Magazine, Volume V, No 2, 1992 60 pacifi c coast numismatic society San Francisco Gas & Electric Company: Lost in the Mists of Time Jerry F. Schimmel How many of you San Franciscans knew there was an S.F.G.& E.? A tiny minority I would guess, if that many. We’re so used to paying the Pacifi c Gas & Electric Company (better known as PG&E) that it’s hard to comprehend that Friscoites once had a separate utility. Directories fi rst list S.F.G.& E. in 1897, and its last entry is for 1910. After 1910 readers of the directories were referred to P.G.& E. Th e fi rst offi ces of SFG&E were at 415 Post Street, Joseph B. Crockett, President and Engineer. Immediately after the 1906 Earthquake and Fire, the fi rm established six temporary offi ces: 925 Franklin Street, 500 Haight Street, 1290– 9th Avenue, 421 Presidio Avenue, and 5th and Tehama Streets, way out in the southeast part of town at Six Mile House on San Bruno Avenue. Th e fi rm’s 1910 and fi nal address was 445 Sutter. Th e disc shown here was probably a tool tag. It certainly had no trade value. Its obverse legend shows that it was struck by the San Francisco die- sinking fi rm of Patrick & Co., still in business on Market Street since the 1890s. Th e design of its legend suggests a manufacture date between 1900 and 1906. desCriPtion Brass 25mm holed at top, recessed beaded borders. Obv: S.F. / G. & E. / Co. / PATRICK & CO. S.F. Rev: 968 (Probably a tool check number). Photos Dan Hipple and Stephen Huston 2014–2015 pcns papers 61 The Ocean Shore Railroad: A Terrific Idea, But… Jerry F. Schimmel You couldn’t imagine a better location for the proposed railroad between San Francisco and Santa Cruz. Pre-construction advertising touted it as the upcoming travel experience of the Pacific Coast. Construction would proceed along the high cliffs and trestles hundreds of feet above the crags and ocean breakers of Central California — one of the most scenic sections of coastline in a nation blessed with breath-taking ocean views. Ocean Shore was supposed to link the cities via what turned out to be an impossibly difficult coastal route through San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Cruz counties. Despite all promises, the line never made it to Santa Cruz even after a substantial track section had been laid leading north from that city. To top it off the railroad’s worst misfortune was the 1906 Earthquake which tore apart tracks naively laid over the infamous and unstable rock cliff at Devil’s Slide. Through ups and downs the never-finished project dragged on (and off) from 1905 through 1920. When the company expired, a twenty-five mile gap in the rails remained open extending from Swanton in Santa Cruz County to Tunitas Creek in San Mateo County. Travelers proceeding across the temporarily graded stretch had to ride in a Stanley Steamer touring car which was met by trains going either way. An unremarkable one-story clapboard box served as Ocean Shore’s San Francisco terminal located at the southeast corner of Mission and 12th Streets. From that point tracks went south on 12th and across Division, Harrison and Bryant Streets onto Florida Street. At Mariposa Street they turned left four blocks and then right and south on Potrero Avenue. At 25th Street the tracks made yet another left turn to Vermont Street and then right onto what is now Bayshore Boulevard and the 101 Freeway. Here the line continued below the eastern and southern base of Bernal Heights into the Alemany Gap, then to the parts of San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties that now contain Westlake, Daly City, Pacifica and points south. A few station buildings leftover from the project still exist in San Mateo County, most of which have been converted into homes or businesses, some available for viewing. The rest 62 pacifi c coast numismatic society of the story, especially for railroad buff s, can be found in the excellent history, The Last Whistle, by Jack Wagner. Th e tokens shown, and their issuer, had nothing to do with the Ocean Shore RR other than to borrow its name. Th e saloon was located at 350–12th Street on the west side, trains rumbling by mere feet from its swinging doors. Since then house numbers on 12th Street have changed as the saloon was originally described as being on the corner of 12th and Harrison Streets. Directories show John Schwormstede as a saloonkeeper and grocer, partnered with brother Charles from 1897 to about 1902. Th e drinkery lasted until Prohibition in 1920, though directories tell us that afterward “refreshments” only were available. Schwormstede died in 1923. Th e two tokens are 26mm octagonal brass and read as follows. Obverse: Ocean Shore R.R. / Saloon / J. Schwormstede / 12TH & Harrison / mOISE K· CO· Reverse: Good For / 5¢ / In Trade (and another similar for 10¢.) Th e diesinker’s signature, mOISE K. CO., was used from about 1908 through 1915. Th e tokens were good for drinks or cigars. Five cents bought a beer, shot of cheap whisky, or cheap cigar. Ten cents bought the same, only better quality. I retraced the San Francisco County path of Ocean Shore’s rails with my twelve year old Volkswagen GTI. Driving south from 12th and 2014–2015 pcns papers 63 Mission, I found that several streets have since been deleted or blocked. I could no longer cross Harrison, Bryant, and Division largely because of the freeway and parking lot of a Best Buy. Across Division Street, I got to Florida Street (not easily) and followed the above route to the Vermont Street section now obliterated by the 101 Freeway. From there south to the county line all traces were covered by Alemany Boulevard and Interstate 280. The address 350–12th Street no longer exists. It’s now one of San Francisco’s new live/work lofts with the number 356. The surroundings are rather grey, dotted with old flats and industrial buildings, though it has curious alley names like Isis and Bernice Streets. The old site of the railroad station lies at the intersection of Mission and South Van Ness Avenue though it has been razed and re-built several times. A sleazy looking one story bar graces the northwest corner of Harrison and 12th, the actual location of Schwormstede’s — keeping up the tradition. · • · Token Photos Stephen Huston References Brandt, R. and Guido, F.A., “Ocean Shore Railroad” in the The Western Railroader, San Mateo, California (1965) Feisel, Duane, California Saloon Tokens, Western States Token Society, Shingletown, California (2004) Wagner, Jack R., The Last Whistle, Howell-North Books, Berkeley (1974) San Francisco City Directories, various years Site visits, June 16 and July 7, 2013 Partial street map of southeast San Francisco 1912 64 pacifi c coast numismatic society United Railroads Jerry F. Schimmel Few San Franciscans know the name United Railroads. Th e United was organized in 1902, when a New York bank purchased the fi rst Market Street Railway in San Francisco as well as several small, privately owned street car operations. Th e URR lasted until April 1921, when it was bought out by the second Market Street Railway. San Francisco’s Charter of 1900 envisioned the city’s total ownership of municipal transportation. A single system would eliminate repetition, overlap and the problem of transfers, part of a policy which was reiterated in the charter of 1932. When the Municipal Railway purchased the second Market Street Railway in 1944, the city had municipalized its urban transportation and became the holder of all lines except the cable cars. Later they, too, were brought under the Muni umbrella. In late 1906, United Railroads had its offi ces at Broderick and Oak streets having been forced out of downtown because of the Earthquake and Fire of April. Th e brass check shown had no cash value nor was it intended for such. Likely it was a tool tag or possibly a workman’s identifi cation badge. We can date its issue for certain to October 1906, because of the manufacturer’s signature on the reverse. Th e fi rm Irvine, Wirth and Jachens was listed at 2439 Market Street only for that year. A year later the company had moved to 2129 Market Street. In 1909, the fi rm was recorded in directories as Irvine and Jachens which is still in operation. Prior to 1906 there had been separate die sinking companies: J.C. Irvine & Co. and Wirth & Jachens. Th e check’s value is probably more historical than fi nancial. It’s one of the few near-numismatic ephemera out of the post-earthquake reconstruction period. So far no fare tokens have been recorded for United Railroads. Photo Credits Dan Hipple and Stephen Huston referenCes San Francisco City Directories 1900–1910 The White Front Cars of San Francisco, Charles Smallwood, Interurbans, Glendale (1978) desCriPtion Four-scalloped brass 52mm, all legends incuse, no raised rim or border designs, hole at top for suspension. OBV: UNITED / R.RS / (large serial number) 5938 / CONSTRUCTION / DEPT. / S.F. REV: (on lobe, see detail above) IRVINE / WIRTH & JACHENS / 2439 MARKET ST / S.F. Papers of the Pacific Coast Numismatic Society 2014–2015