Shooter, but, for what?

[Blind.In.Texas]

Found this little guy just a few inches from my "mystery wheat". Came out of about 8" of soil. Same depth as the wheat. The merc is for perspective. Any ideas on how it was displayed? Maybe came off a button or a badge of sorts. Don't really know anything about militariana. Maybe it represents that the soldier had rifle trainig? Any help would be great. I guess I could try looking it up, but, I am not sure that this is the whole piece. On the back are several dotted lines. Maybe grip area for adhesive. Thanks in advance!

BTW. What is up with the mark above the date on that merc? Can't make out what it is and it's been bugging me.


Laater...

 

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[Montana Jim]

It's actually not a mint mark, but a very prominent display of the designer's initials - Adolph A. Weinman. If you look closer, what looks like the letter W has an A in it. The mintmark is on the back by the word "ONE".

http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=1932&universeid=313&type=1

 

[diggummup]

Picture of the reverse? What's it made of,copper?

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

Thanks for the info on the mark. That digger scratch is my own work. The coin is other wise in really greatshape.

The copper shooter is lined, on the back, with several rows of tiny dots. They are very tiny. Just used to hold adhesive is my guess.

Laater...

 

[TreasureTales]

The shooter appears to be wearing a WWI Doughboys hat. Is that what you see? Maybe a marksman badge from WWI?

 

[PBK]

The design of the "shooter" token or medal is similar to that used on dollar- and half dollar-sized "good luck" and souvenir medals from World War I. Here's an example from eBay:

​

http://cgi.ebay.com/WWI-1918-SOLDIER-ARMY-IN-FRANCE-SERVICE-MEDAL-TOKEN_W0QQitemZ260065815844


I think there may also have been a small one with the Lord's Prayer in micro-lettering on the reverse.

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

PBK. Outstanding. The back may well be micro text. Your comment has caused me to look much closer at it. A portion of the lines near the top have a pronounced curvature. Indicative of a title to something. I am a bit concerned about cleaning it since I destroyed a perfectly beautiful wheat of the same year. My wife heard that soaking a rusty nail in an onion over night will remove the rust. I am testing this right now on the ruined wheat. We'll see. As long as I can see the obverse/reverse of an identical item then I will be happy just KNOWING what is under the crud. In that way I can not ruin this one too.

Thanks for the info and the lead. At least now I have an idea of what to look for, because, I was way off track.

Laater...

 

[Blind.In.Texas]

It's actually not a mint mark, but a very prominent display of the designer's initials - Adolph A. Weinman. If you look closer, what looks like the letter W has an A in it. The mintmark is on the back by the word "ONE".

http://www.pcgs.com/articles/article_view.chtml?artid=1932&universeid=313&type=1

Also thanks to you Montana for the link. It did appear to be a what you wrote. Still learning about my American coins.

Laater...

 

[Montana Jim]

No problem... good to see PBK come through with the shooter thing!

I picked the easy question to reply to!