Finally had to quench my thirst for silver!!

[Kantuckkeean]

Howdy Y’all,

I finally got tired of pounding nickels all day and decided to do a road trip. Convinced my wife to accompany me, grabbed $2000 and hit the road. Visited around 20 banks, many had halves, ended up coming home with only $12 in bills on me, but only 3 really produced. Somebody hasn’t been listening and has been edge marking their coins with a purple sharpie!! Fortunately my wife is a better hunter. I picked up a $1000 bag of his dumps and my wife managed to pull a 1969 out of the bag. The edge of it had even been marked. My wife is going to carry it in her wallet to remind her of his failure, oh, and she says “TEE-HEE!!”.
One bank gave up the bag off the machine. Didn’t produce much silver, but it did yield: a bunch of change, 2 Canadian 2 dollar coins, a car wash token, an arcade token, an aluminum James Buchanan token, a neat copper Chinese coin, and a REALLY cool copper tag that says: “ Souvenir Prize Montgomery Ward Co. Chicago Rifle Competition Second Infantry Oct. 19-23 1891”. I’m gonna research it in a bit.

Here’s the final take:
Good bank 1:
’63D Franklin
’64 x 20
’67 x 40

Good bank 2:
’57D Franklin
’64 x 2
’65 x 2
’66 x 2
’67 x 2
’68 x 1
’69 x 3

Good bank 3:
’64 x 8
’65 x 4
’66 x 9
’67 x 15
’68 x 6
’69 x 1
Proofs x 3 (1976 not silver, ’04, ’05)

Days Take:
2 Franklins
32 x 90% (including the 2 Franklins)
85 x 40%

Here are some pics:





TEE-HEE!!

I forgot to mention that this was my best day of hunting so far. Thanks for lookin’.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

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[jim4silver]

Nice pic of the marked 40%. Ya gotta love it when some coin marker gets so much into marking the coins that they miss a keeper.

Jim

 

[Kantuckkeean]

Hi Jim,

I thought that was funny too. My wife is a great hunter when she wants to be.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[d2arcing]

very nice!

 

[nyiangelo]

I'd have to say that I think that little tag is your best find. Let us know what you find out. Maybe a closer pic.

 

[AGCoinHunter]

That tag is cool, let us know what you find out about it. Congrats on the great day!

 

[Kantuckkeean]

Thanks. Here's a couple of better pics of the tag:

Here's the text. Apparently someone etched ING into it at a later date?

For size reference

Can't find out anything so far. Montgomery Ward's first catalog was in 1872, so this was in their early history. I'll keep you posted.

Apparently the Chinese coin is from 190X. Can't quite figure the exact date or type yet.

Kindest regards,
Kantuck

 

[obediah]

Yes good finds for you. Them road trips do produce good- just wish thye did not cost so much to do, you know cumulatively they add up to a chunk of your potential prfits if one is not careful.

 

[Rich Hartford]

Congrats Kantuck on a great road trip. . Nice photos too.

 

[Kantuckkeean]

Hi All,

Kantucks wife here...I found through Chicago Tribune's records that the shooting competiton was held at Fort Sheridan and the I.N.G. stands for Illinois National Guard. Still trying to dig up more, but you have to pay to see the whole articles on the website.

OK, what follows is what I have found on the medal. It would appear from the following article I found on the history of the Illinois National Guard that the 1891 competition was at Camp Lincoln, not Fort Sheridan. According to the Chicago Tribune the 1891 competition was at Fort Sheridan so I’m not sure which is correct, but I would have to lean towards the Chicago Tribune being correct.

” Since the first encampment in 1886, it appears Camp Lincoln and the summer training activities of the soldiers had become a Springfield social event. Various State and local dignitaries often visited the camp to inspect the troops and observe training. The Governor and Lieutenant Governor rarely missed an opportunity to visit the troops. Citizens of Springfield often visited the camp grounds as well. Special trains from Chicago were brought down with loads of enthusiastic citizens, eager to observe the soldiers in training. Numerous articles appeared in the Springfield paper whenever the Guard had an encampment to keep the citizens informed about the activities of their “boys in blue.”

In 1891, Camp Lincoln played host to a State Rifle Team competition between Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. The object of the competition was the Washburn Trophy. Senator W.D. Washburn of Minnesota donated the trophy, a weighty, sterling silver sculpture of an Indian on horseback, lancing a buffalo, to the Northwest Military Rifle Association. The first competition was held the previous year at Camp Douglas, Wisconsin and was won by the Minnesota team. In a closely fought match, Illinois won the trophy by a mere eight points. In 1892, the competition was held at Fort Sheridan, Illinois. Again the Illinois State Rifle Team was victorious; by just 137 points. According to the rules established for the trophy, the state to win the competition three times shall keep the trophy.27”

Source: http://www.il.ngb.army.mil/

Kindest regards,
Flat-footed Hoosier Gal