Token die trial

[brandm24]

This is a lead die trial made for the Racine (Wisconsin) Numismatic Society in 1968. It's huge and heavy at 51mm and 4mm thick. The maker is unknown.

As evidenced by the reverse side, the Racine group of collectors is associated with the Numismatists of Wisconsin a statewide organization founded in 1960. The trial strike is for a medal issued by RNS to celebrate their 30th anniversary.

My images show both sides of the trial strike as well as an image of the generic Numismatists of Wisconsin beaver logo on a finished medal for the Nicolet Coin Club. Both pieces are in my collection.
I'm still looking for the identity of the maker.

Bruce
   

[Figleaf]

Undoubtedly the same die. I wonder why no one noticed the odd O in "ORG." in danger of falling off. Or was it meant to be draped around the star?

I presume there is/was a connection between the Racine coin club and Whitman, home of the coin collecting boards, the red book, the Yeoman books and more...

Peter

[brandm24]

The positioning of the O is awkward but since it was a trial for a limited mintage of medals it probably wasn't thought important enough to recut.

The finished example clearly shows the undertype being a Morgan silver dollar. I don't know if all examples were overstruck on large sized coins or some were stand-alone medals. The only other example I've seen is struck on a Kennedy half dollar...again, the undertype shows clearly.

After doing some research I found a possible maker of the die trial. A collector and researcher named Del Romines privately designed and struck many tokens for collectors and numismatic organizations back in the 1980s and 90s. Though there are similarities between his known issues and the trial piece, his work wasn't as refined as this one. I've contacted the man who I bought it from to see if he has any history on the piece.

As far as a connection with Whitman, I think it's a possibility. Those Wisconsin boys were well connected with the coin collecting fraternity in the state.

Bruce