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M.E. Hart’s Coins of the West 1900-Dated Alaska Half Pinch (50c)Token M.E. Hart. 1900-Dated Alaska G

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:10.00 USD Estimated At:NA
M.E. Hart’s Coins of the West 1900-Dated Alaska Half Pinch (50c)Token M.E. Hart. 1900-Dated Alaska G
SOLD
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This item SOLD at 2018 Mar 08 @ 23:01UTC-6 : CST/MDT
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M.E. Hart’s Coins of the West
1900-Dated Alaska Half Pinch (50c)Token M.E. Hart. 1900-Dated Alaska Gold Half Pinch. Octagonal. Small Indian Head. MS-61 NGC. Obv: small Indian Head right, 16 stars around, 1900 below truncation. Rev: ½ at center, ALASKA GOLD arcs above, PINCH below, scanty wreath around, P broadly repunched. Bright and lustrous honey-gold. Completely unmarked with some hairlines the culprit behind the assigned grade.
The M.E. Hart Co. was located at 560 Powell Street, San Francisco, when these now highly collectable back-dated tokens made their appearance at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition -- P.P.I.E. – in 1915. Today’s collectors and specialists believe Farran Zerbe had a hand in these Hart tokens, and why not? Zerbe was Director of the Coin and Medal Department for the Exposition. He held court and sold the famous Panama-Pacific octagonal and round $50 pieces, quarter eagles, gold dollars, and half dollars, from his corner booth in the Palace of Liberal Arts building. He also sold So-Called dollars HK-399 through 401, in various metals, as well as the famous U.S. Mint sets of the issues just mentioned. The U.S. Mint sets were in frames by Shreve & Co., also of San Francisco, and the frames of the Mint sets and the Hart tokens were identical in size and manufacture. Hart’s advertising of the time shows 36 tokens total, as do the rare framed sets. Today’s collectors tend to gather complete sets through perseverance and patience, one lonely piece at a time, as the original sets in frames are great rarities by any standards. Here is as good a place as any to begin a collection of these fascinating tokens from a century ago.