Very Interesting Item (Solved by Bramblefind)

[chukers]

Anyone got any ideas on this token/key chain fob? Its the size of a quarter

I love finding this stuff... Almost as much as I do coins... well I'm on the fence about it!

Chukers

 

[chukers]

Re: Very Interesting Item

I have found absolutely nothing about this item... apparently noone else has either... this is unusual... I'm still looking.

 

[TxTim]

Re: Very Interesting Item

Have you tried e-mailing SMU?

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

Re: Very Interesting Item

I looked at there website and they sell a Lapel Pin with the same logo..which im sure is a standard..i dont know much about what the back means thou

http://smu.bncollege.com/webapp/wcs...17&parentCatId=40033&topCatId=40004&langId=-1

 

[coin1921]

Re: Very Interesting Item

I believe that the back is referring to the $100.00 dollar club. This would be given to those who donate $100.00 to the insitution's funding

 

[Bramblefind]

Re: Very Interesting Item

Article from the 12/17/1912 Dallas Morning News

 

[chukers]

Re: Very Interesting Item

Article from the 12/17/1912 Dallas Morning News

That is the best explanation I have heard yet... good job! very interesting....

 

[mainer]

Re: Very Interesting Item

Could it be a keychain?

 

[werleibr]

Re: Very Interesting Item

To me it looks like a medal that a university gives out when you donate large sums of money. I think it is a $100,000 donation medal not a $100 donation metal.

 

[chukers]

Re: Very Interesting Item

To me it looks like a medal that a university gives out when you donate large sums of money. I think it is a $100,000 donation medal not a $100 donation metal.

Yeah I was wondering what the one thousand hundred dollar means...

 

[Bramblefind]

Re: Very Interesting Item

What it means to me is that there were 1000 people who donated $100 each and received that version of the Founders Medal. Other donors who contributed more received other versions of the medal.

The article says - the medals are being distributed to "more than a thousand members of the Founders Club". That makes me think the $100 level was the lowest donor level for a medal and the others groups of bigger donors were smaller.

Or there could be approx. 1000 in the Founders Club and these medals were just given to those who donated $100. I'm not sure we will get that cleared up without contacting the university.

I honestly thought I solved this with the article But maybe there is still enough of a question to keep it open.

 

[chukers]

Re: Very Interesting Item

one would assume that 100 dollars is alot of money in 1912... is that when SMU was established?

 

[Bramblefind]

Re: Very Interesting Item

Just about - here is the wiki article. That is Dallas Hall on the front of the medal- like as described in the newspaper article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Methodist_University

The university was chartered on April 17, 1911 by the five Annual Conferences in Texas of the United Methodist Church. Classes were originally planned to start in 1913 but were postponed until 1915.

SMU named its first building Dallas Hall in gratitude for the support of Dallas leaders and local citizens, who had pledged $300,000 to secure the university's location. Dallas Hall remains the university's symbol and centerpiece. Designed by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge after the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, Dallas Hall opened its doors in 1915 and housed the entire university as well as a bank and a barbershop. Dallas Hall is registered in the National Register of Historic Places. SMU's nickname "The Hilltop" was inspired by Dallas Hall, which was built on a hill.

I found another newspaper article from 11/29/1912 that reported on laying the cornerstone for Dallas Hall - it was partially completed at that time. In the stone they placed a number of religious items and time capsule documents and listed as being included was also a "Founders Medal".

 

[chukers]

Re: Very Interesting Item

see now thats great... but the more you find... the more questions arise... I wonder how many founders there were... if they raised 300,000 dollars... I'd assume there were alot of them....


what I am getting at.... how rare is this medal?

I know there were 3 levels I assume for different amounts donated... How much was each donation and how many donators were there?

Is this an artifact that needs to be in a museum? Its obviously a unique item... IMO

 

[steelheadwill]

Re: Very Interesting Item

Nice find! Good story & research, great condition, The wording make it sound like 1000 people donating $100, so maybe 1000 medals circulated...
was it dug or found ? HH Herbie.

 

[Bramblefind]

Re: Very Interesting Item

see now thats great... but the more you find... the more questions arise... I wonder how many founders there were... if they raised 300,000 dollars... I'd assume there were alot of them....


what I am getting at.... how rare is this medal?

I know there were 3 levels I assume for different amounts donated... How much was each donation and how many donators were there?

Is this an artifact that needs to be in a museum? Its obviously a unique item... IMO

I think you are going to need to contact SMU to get the answers you are looking for. Good Luck! It's an interesting piece and I have had fun researching it.

 

[chukers]

Re: Very Interesting Item

Nice find! Good story & research, great condition, The wording make it sound like 1000 people donating $100, so maybe 1000 medals circulated...
was it dug or found ? HH Herbie.

I dug it... It was in a 1950's site... so it had to be kept by its owners for 40 years or so before it was lost/discarded

Chukers

 

[chukers]

Re: Very Interesting Item

see now thats great... but the more you find... the more questions arise... I wonder how many founders there were... if they raised 300,000 dollars... I'd assume there were alot of them....


what I am getting at.... how rare is this medal?

I know there were 3 levels I assume for different amounts donated... How much was each donation and how many donators were there?

Is this an artifact that needs to be in a museum? Its obviously a unique item... IMO

I think you are going to need to contact SMU to get the answers you are looking for. Good Luck! It's an interesting piece and I have had fun researching it.

I will... thank you for all your help... I appreciate it. I am also marking it solved giving you credit... I think this is as much as we will find out on this item until I can e-mail someone at the college...

Chukers

 

[chukers]

I E-mailed a history Professor... we'll seeif I get a responce... there is alike a dozen of them... maybe I should e-mail them all...