1933 Pedley-Ryan & Co. Silver token help please

[jesbroken]

Hey gang,

A relative entrusted me with some coins to sell for him, which one was not a coin but a 1933 Pedley-Ryan & Co. Silver "token"(for lack of a better term).

On the Pedley-Ryan side it also says DENVER, then ROBBINS on the corner.

On the other side it says 1933 SILVER 430 grains(just under an ounce)

As I have never seen nor heard of such a token, I thought someone here could help me with an approximate value and venue to which sell it. Thanks to all who respond.

[MunkyMan95]

I think it's a SCD, but I'm not sure. The ones I have seen did not have DENVER, Robbins On The Corner on it. Maybe a counterstamp?

[gmarguli]

I've owned several of these before. It is a SCD, but I believe it has been counterstamped by Robbins. Without the counterstamp, they sell for around $100. I believe the mintage was very small. I sold mine on eBay and a relative of Pedley or Ryan (can't remember which) bought them.

[jesbroken]

Pedley-Ryan Dollars – 1933

Pedley-Ryan & Co., Denver investment house, in order to provide a convenient medium for speculation in silver and to increase the use and popularity of silver as a medium of exchange, started a "Buy-an-Ounce-of-Silver" campaign Jan. 5, 1933. Silver at that time was in very limited demand, bar silver being quoted at 27 cents an ounce. Up to that time, the minimum amount of silver traded in on the big markets for actual delivery was 25,000 ounces, and this amount had been sold only since summer 1932.

 

On Jan. 5, Pedley-Ryan began its sale of round, rimless, plain-edge discs. Size of a standard U.S. dollar, they contained one ounce of silver, 430 grains 99 per cent fine. The slugs were sold three for a dollar and Pedley-Ryan was to redeem them at prevailing market prices of silver. It was believed that thousands of investors throughout the country would purchase the "dollars" and would realize large profits when silver reached the 16 to 1 ratio hoped for by the silver bloc. Silver mining interests in Colorado and elsewhere would, in the meantime, benefit from an increased market for silver.

 

The campaign, which enabled even the smallest investor to speculate, ended in late summer. Sales had not reached anticipated goals. After that, Pedley-Ryan (later known as the Cow Gulch Oil Co.) sold bars of 1000 ounces only.

 

Planchets for the pieces were made for Pedley-Ryan by the Sachs-Lawlor Co., Denver, the silver being obtained from the Denver Mint in 100-plus ounce bars. The discs were stamped by a girl in the Pedley-Ryan office. All have plain edge. First five types sold by Pedley-Ryan were stamped or punched (incuse) while Type VII was embossed. Types V and VI, incuse, are not listed in Kenney.

 

TYPE VI

Bertram Robbins and his son Bertram Robbins, Jr., operators of a men’s clothing store in Colorado Springs, bought 300 discs (Type IV) from Pedley-Ryan & Co. in Denver at bullion value. One Saturday morning in 1933, Bertram, Jr., seated in a store display window, used a punch-type die to make an impression Robbins on the Corner above Pedley-Ryan & Co. (In a few instances, the impression was made below Pedley-Ryan & Co.) With each purchase in the store, a customer could buy one of the discs for $1. All 300 pieces were sold that day. Kappen-Mitchell, Depression Scrip of the United States, Colo. No. 5.

 

Obverse: Robbins / on the / Corner / Pedley-Ryan & Co. / Denver. The word Robbins is curved; remaining lines, straight.

Reverse: 1933 / Silver / 430 grains

 

HK-827 - Silver. Size 24.

 

 

I finally found this to truly understand the Robbins on the corner stamping. Interesting reading anyway. Thanks Greg and Chad. I had never heard of the So Called Dollars before and have learned that they proliferated early America.

[Conder101]

For a long time the Pedley -Ryan SCD had a reputation as being pretty rare, but recently more and more of them have been appearing. Since the counterstampin seems to be at least somewhat semi-official as an issue by Robbins. This probably could raise its value a little, and in the case of this one you actually know what the mintage was.

[jesbroken]

It seems somewhat odd that Pedley-Ryan was having trouble selling their silver without counterstamps at 3 for a dollar and along comes a store who stamps theirs and sells them for $1 each and sells out in 1 day. Seems that their was not such a problem selling silver as Pedley-Ryan thought.

[physics-fan3.14]

It seems somewhat odd that Pedley-Ryan was having trouble selling their silver without counterstamps at 3 for a dollar and along comes a store who stamps theirs and sells them for $1 each and sells out in 1 day. Seems that their was not such a problem selling silver as Pedley-Ryan thought.

 

Pedley-Ryan must not have peddled them correctly.