An Indian In Australia

[boneszzm]

I was looking at this site the other day and remembered my GrandPa had some coins
and i was sure that there was some American ones there.
I thought this cent was cool. Any thoughts??

 

[pong12211]

That's a nice indian head..

 

[unclemac]

from the internet...

...the person portrayed is my great-great grandmother. James Barton Longacre was the chief engraver of the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia and was competing in 1835 for a design for the planned copper cent. Knowing that several Indians and their chief (I understand it was Sitting Bull but am not certain) were to be shown the Mint as part of their visit to the Great White Chief in Washington, his (Longacre's) daughter, Sarah, begged to be brought to the office to see the exotic Indians.
"The old chief was intrigued by the 12-year-old with her flaming red hair, removed his war bonnet and placed it on her head. Her father did a quick sketch of the moment to show his wife. Later, pressed for an entry for the contest, he refined the profile of his Pennsylvania Dutch daughter wearing the Indian headdress and won by one vote. Sarah was much teased in the city for a time. The initial, which can be found in early mintings at the end of her jaw line, refers to her name, Sarah Longacre.

 

[boneszzm]

Hey Thanks for that, Great info

 

[boneszzm]

As the last info was good anyone know anything about these. I believe that they are
Mercury Dimes. One is quite a bit different in colour to the other

 

[unclemac]

sure...here you go...we find these still occasionally in our change...VERY occasionally....

The Mercury dime is a ten-cent coin struck by the United States Mint from 1916 to 1945. Designed by Adolph Weinman and also referred to as the Winged Liberty Head dime, it gained its common name as the obverse depiction of a young Liberty, identifiable by her winged Phrygian cap, was confused with the Roman god Mercury. Weinman is believed to have used Elsie Stevens, the wife of lawyer and poet Wallace Stevens, as a model. The coin's reverse depicts a fasces, symbolizing unity and strength, and an olive branch, signifying peace.

 

[unclemac]

the gold tone is just a light patina that sometimes happens to silver coins...I actually have several gold toned George VI florins from your neck of the woods that Pa picked up during WWII.

 

[cudamark]

I was looking at this site the other day and remembered my GrandPa had some coins
and i was sure that there was some American ones there.
I thought this cent was cool. Any thoughts??
View attachment 852853
View attachment 852854

Someone has polished the daylights out of it but otherwise doesn't look too bad. Common date so it's not worth a whole lot.....maybe $2 U.S.

 

[boneszzm]

I thought it may have been cleaned there are some other cents almost as old (1914 and 1920 I think) and while they don't look damaged they are a lot more dirty.
The last coins I found that interested me were the five cents there were about ten with Indian heads and buffalo's, I could only see the dates on three (1917, 1920 and 1928-s). I just learnt about mint marks as well so I am going back through all the coins looking for those now. Its not so much about money just a nice piece of family history. My GrandPa never went to the US and he was more a stamp collector so I wonder why he had them. Anyway here are the 5 cents

 

[unclemac]

The coins your grandpa had were all from the same "set" so to speak. Like in Australia, George V would be a set and George VI would be another set. Your coins would have been common in your pocket all at the same time so I expect your grandpa had a friend or relative that visited the states and brought back some change....just like my Pa did during the war...he brought back a pocket full of Australian coins. Either that or your grandpa was in contact with some US service men during the war. The first American division that was deployed during WWII went to Melbourne (Ballarat actually) for several months and then up the east coast to Rockhampton before they shipped off to New Guinea. There were a lot of G.I.'s there.

 

[unclemac]

from the internet...

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]The Native American depiction on the coins obverse is believed to be based on three different American Indians. Two of the American Indians who modeled for Fraser as he sculpted the coin were named by the designer before his death. They were Chief Iron Tail of the Lakota Sioux and Chief Two Moons of the Cheyenne. Although many have claimed to have had a sitting with Fraser for this design, he could not recall the name of the third person, and satisfactory documentation has not yet been found to identify that individual. It is widely believed that the bison on the coin's reverse was modeled after Black Diamond, a popular attraction at the New York Zoological Gardens.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]a lot of us consider this nickel to be the best U.S. coin ever minted for common circulation. [/FONT]

 

[cudamark]

Best in what way? Surely not wear. A well struck one is certainly a pretty coin, though I'm not sure it's the prettiest nickel let alone the prettiest U.S. coin. I think the Morgan Dollar or Walking half, or St. Gaudens $20 gold piece would beat the buffalo nickel in a voting contest.

 

[boneszzm]

Thanks for all the info (Especially Unclemac). It has been great to learn a bit more about these coins. I have enjoyed going through them and I must say that the US have had some nice coin designs over the years. I think I will keep my eye out for a few more (you never know who else might have some laying about). Would be nice to get some quarters and half dollars from the same era to kind of complete the set.

 

[unclemac]

St. Gaudens $20 gold piece wasn't what I meant by "common circulation" ....

 

[unclemac]

Thanks for all the info (Especially Unclemac). It has been great to learn a bit more about these coins. I have enjoyed going through them and I must say that the US have had some nice coin designs over the years. I think I will keep my eye out for a few more (you never know who else might have some laying about). Would be nice to get some quarters and half dollars from the same era to kind of complete the set.

ebay ... look for a "walking liberty half dollar" and a "standing liberty quarter" and a "peace dollar" too....you can get nice common dates in "fine" condition for not too much money.