France Crayon Mengin Token from the 1860's

Started by WillieBoyd2, October 10, 2010, 04:56:02 PM

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WillieBoyd2

I have had this token since the 1960's when I was going to coin shows
and buying things out of US dealers' foreign coin boxes.


France Crayon Mengin (1860's) Brass 24mm

I only tried to identify it recently with the help of the Internet.

Mengin lived in Paris where he was a street entertainer in the mid 1800's.
He dressed as a Roman soldier and sold special pencils while performing magic tricks.
He is mentioned in several books of the period.

:)
https://www.brianrxm.com
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Figleaf

The address, 25 Rue du Faubourg Saint Martin, now houses the restaurant "Chez Arthur". Mengin was rumoured to be rich, but on his death in 1864, his home was reported to be "clean, but of extreme simplicity."

Mengin sold gold-coloured pencils and included a medal of this kind (vaguely looking like a Louis d'or) with each pencil sold. There are several types of this advertising medal, with a more or less crude design. More detail here (page in French).

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

ZYV

About this group of tokens:
http://calamophilie.skynetblogs.be/archive/2011/06/01/mengin.html

But I can't find this type.
My publications on numismatics and history of Golden Horde  https://independent.academia.edu/ZayonchkovskyYuru

ZYV

As far as I understand - this is "Jeton Publicitaire".
This Mengin sold his pencils and a token was given with pencils.

If it so - why it is with denomination?
For future purchase?

My publications on numismatics and history of Golden Horde  https://independent.academia.edu/ZayonchkovskyYuru

ZYV

And one more question - is portrait of this Mengin on his tokens?
My publications on numismatics and history of Golden Horde  https://independent.academia.edu/ZayonchkovskyYuru

Figleaf

It is not a denomination but the price of the pencils Mengin was selling. Mengin was a street artist. He is known to have been selling pencils dressed up as a Roman soldier. Therefore, it is indeed likely that it is his portrait. He may well have sold pencils dressed up as a "Turc" also, as pictured on your advertising token.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

ZYV

Dear Peter, thank You for the interest!

How '20 c le Crayon" can be translated? 
My publications on numismatics and history of Golden Horde  https://independent.academia.edu/ZayonchkovskyYuru

Figleaf

An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

ZYV

My publications on numismatics and history of Golden Horde  https://independent.academia.edu/ZayonchkovskyYuru

saro

In addition to previous posts, you can have a look to this link (in french language ...) :
http://www.paris-pittoresque.com/perso/21.htm

it's a copy of an old document (1868) which gives many details on this pencils street seller: Mengin (or Mangin?) was a famous street seller in Paris, a charlatan, with middle age clothes and golden helmet...from the document, it seems that he was selling his pencils together with "medals with his portrait"...

No doubt that it's Mr Mangin who his shown on the tokens to commemorate this famous man (completely forgotten today...); I think that 20c value is to consider as a publicity for pencils and not for use as payment.
"All I know is that I know nothing" (Socrates)

ZYV

Thank You for the interest!
Mentioned document I found earlier.
Quote from: saro on January 22, 2016, 03:07:36 PM
20c value is to consider as a publicity for pencils
Sorry, I don't understand what You mean.

My publications on numismatics and history of Golden Horde  https://independent.academia.edu/ZayonchkovskyYuru

saro

"All I know is that I know nothing" (Socrates)

ZYV

Quote from: saro on January 22, 2016, 04:08:26 PM
"advertising item" with no cash value
Thanks.
"Jeton Publicitaire" i.e.

And question, which I already asked - is this "unpublished" type - has someone seen it?
My publications on numismatics and history of Golden Horde  https://independent.academia.edu/ZayonchkovskyYuru

malj1

The Google translation of the very interesting document is very well done.

Here is a quotation taken from that:

My name Mangin! I sell pencils and I make them myself; one of my industry I have had the honor of the World Exhibition in London ... ... I do not fly me away ... My portrait is at the door of nearly every Paris of tobacconists, and I sell my pencils twenty cents.
Malcolm
Have a look at  my tokens and my banknotes.

WillieBoyd2

More on Mengin or Mangin, including from the American P. T. Barnum:

Joe Vitale,There's a Customer Born Every Minute: P.T. Barnum's Amazing 10 Rings of Power for Creating Fame, Fortune, and a Business Empire Today 2006

Mangin's Great Secret of Success

P. T. Barnum somehow intuitively knew the first law of advertising, and he knew it before it was ever expressed as a law: Get attention.

One of the people who reminded Barnum of this secret was Monsieur Mangin, a famous French businessman who sold the best pencils in all of Europe. Mangin would appear on a street corner dressed in unusual royal garb, riding a team of large horses. He would park, open his wagon with a great deal of pomp and circumstance, and slowly begin to put on a theatrical performance.

A crowd would always form, wondering what was happening. The French entrepreneur would then demonstrate his pencils, involve members of his audience, entertain them, and end by selling his product to nearly everyone present.

Years later Barnum met Mangin and complemented him on "... your manner of attracting the public. Your costume is elegant, your chariot is superb, and your valet and music are sure to draw".

Mangin ended their meeting by saying he was planning "a grand humbug", which "shall double the sale of my pencils".


John C. Francis,Notes and Queries, a Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. Eighth Series - Volume Twelfth, July-December London, 1897

Mangin the Pencil-Seller from M. Charles Yriarte, Celebrites de la Rue, 1864

Mangin sold his pencils for 20 centimes a single pencil or half a dozen with a medal and a portrait of himself for a franc. Mengin died sometime between 1864 and 1868.


Henry Charles Shelley, Old Paris; its Social, Historical, and Literary Associations, London, L. C. Page & Company, 1912

This practical type of street character in Paris was exemplified by "l'illustre Mangin", the pencil-seller, who as an orator, adequately sustained the traditions of Tabarin [a 17th century Paris street charlatan].

He is said to have taken a university degree, a belief which may have had no surer foundation than his fondness for classical illusions, but whatever the extent of his learning there was no denying his fluency of speech.

"Ladies, gentlemen, children, enemies and friends! Buy my pencils. There are no other pencils like them on the earth or in the spheres. Listen! They are black! You imagine, of course, in the immensity of your ignorance - it is wonderful how ignorant people are capable of being, especially about pencils - that all pencils are black. Error! Criminal error! Error as immense and fatal as that of Mark Antony when he fell in love with Cleopatra. All other pencils are grey!".

https://www.brianrxm.com
The Mysterious Egyptian Magic Coin
Coins in Movies
Coins on Television