Coin and Paper Money Collecting/FDR commerative token

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Expert: - 2/12/2011


Question

FDR
I have a Franklin D Roosevelt commerative token and cannot find its value anywhere.  I've seen a response about a similar token that was on ebay, but this one is different.  Here are the particulars:

Has 32nd President U.S.A. across the top.  Franklin D Roosevelt across the bottom.  The date 1933 on the left and three stars on the right.  The caption on the back has A New Deal across the top, Onward America across the bottom, and the caption reads:

Asst. Sec. of the Navy, Governor of New York, was made President during a period of great econmic depression.  Became the first U.S. President to be elected for three terms.  

Can you tell me anything at all about this token?

Thanks.

Answer
Hi Sylvia:

Thanks for your question.

From your description, it sounds like you may have a political token. Many of these were struck by private mints. Your token was likely struck after 1945. Some were also struck during the 1970's as give always at service stations, and known as Shell tokens. They had several themes, Presidents being one of them.

I checked eBay listings under the Exonumia category, both current and past, and found several. The completed auctions had tokens than sold from between $4 and $25. One looks a lot like your description, and it closed on March 2nd for a reserve of $2.95, with no bid. The listing said it was made by the Osborne Register Co. CINTI. O.

Your token would likely sell for $2 to $5, depending on condition, to an interested collector.

For more about FDR and the New Deal, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franklin_D._Roosevelt

I also found a site for the FDR Presidential Library and Museum where you can contact them. It looks like there are a lot of political items contained in The New Deal Museum Store. Your token may be one of them. See: http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/library/wallace.html

You may want to check eBay listings under US coins be specifically looking for political tokens in the exonumia category to see if items like yours are listed and what they are going for.

Hope this helps. Please remember to go to the experts site to rate this answer. Check the nomination box on the rating page below any comments you may have.

Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.  
    Questioner's Rating
    Rating(1-10)Knowledgeability = 10Clarity of Response = 10Politeness = 10
    CommentVery knowledgeable and able to locate information that I could not.


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Ronald Fern

Expertise

I can answer most all questions relating to US coins, tokens, and currency. I'm not strong on world coins or ancients. Primary field of expertise is errors and varieties. Over 55 years experience in coin collecting. Part time dealer since 1976. Employed by McDonnell Douglas/Boeing for over 34 years as an Industrial Engineer/Technical Specialist before retiring in 2002.

Experience

Worked weekends for "Lonesome" John in the late 1960's to mid 1970's processing error coins, packaging, and preparing orders. Worked with John Devine and Fred Weinberg on several California Error A Rama's in the early 1970's. Served as display judge at annual Error-A-Rama coin shows. Opened and operated mail order coin business DBA "CAL ERRORS" in 1976. Contributer to Alan Herbert's "Official Price Guide To Mint Errors" and Fivaz/Stanton "Cherrypickers' Guide". Worked Saturdays at Huntington Beach Coin Exchange 1980-1999. Had table and sold coins at a number of coin and gun shows in So CA, AZ and NV. Sell coins, tokens and currency currently at my space in the Pomona Antique Center. Past "Errorscope" Editor. Presently CONECA Examiner.

Organizations
ANA, CONECA, CWTS, NLG

Publications
Errorscope, Numismatic News, Civil War Token Journal, Error and Variety News

Education/Credentials
AA Degree LBCC pre Engineering, 1964 BS Degree CSULB Ind Technology, 1968

Awards and Honors
1st Place EAR Trophy for Civil War Token Errors, NLG Author of Year Award for best monthly coin column "Error News and Views" in small Numismatic paper, owned and published by Ray Anthony.

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