Please tell me more about the So-Called Dollars

[Merc]

When examining a collection for a friend, I found a 1893 Chicago Expo medal with a US treasury building. I looked it up and found it is a So-Called dollar.

 

How many different designs are out there?

 

What are they exactly? This one was made by mint employees but not at a mint. Are all of the So-Called dollars made by mint employees?

 

How widely are they collected? I never see these things at shows. Then I am probably looking at the wrong places since I usually look at US coins.

 

Thanks

[Hoot]

How many different designs are out there?

 

Hundreds. The Hibler and Kappen, So-called dollars: An illustrated standard catalog with valuations lists 1033 and it was published in 1963. Supposedly, there's work being done on an update that should be quite an impressive work.

 

What are they exactly?

 

Commemorative medals, of sorts, usually dated, and usually lower relief (more like a coin) than a typical medal. They are also about the size of a silver dollar, typically. Some are larger, some smaller. I have one that's not listed in H-K, but it's a 1915 Pan-Pac souvenir "penny" that's solid copper and about 2 inches diameter.

 

This one was made by mint employees but not at a mint. Are all of the So-Called dollars made by mint employees?

 

No, they are made by all kinds of folks, usually with contracted artists, engravers, and minters.

 

How widely are they collected?

 

In the last two years, these things have taken off like a shot. They used to be very lonely for significant collectors and had relatively low price demands. Now, they can garner significant premiums for rare and well-preserved pieces.

 

Hoot

[Hoot]

Have a look at This Thread for a few.

 

Hoot

[EZ_E]

As Hoot states, so called dollars are becoming very popular on e-bay. Just type so called dollars into the e-bay search engine and many will come up for sell. There is fierce bidding for some of the rarer issues.

 

What was initially deceptive for me was that I assumed that they were all 38mm, the same as the US silver dollars but their sizes vary drastically. The aluminum Bickford dollars are only 27mm while some are 2.5" in diameter.

 

My favorites are the American Centennial issues of 1876. They are beautiful designs which are designated as HK20 & HK21, etc. This is based upon how they are listed in the Hibler-Kappen book which stops in 1963.

 

The 1915 Pan-Pac issues are also beautiful and popular. Many are silver, some copper and some gilded bronze. However, it is often hard to find choice examples since many have been abused and harshly cleaned or improperly stored.

[cpm9ball]

In the past, the SC$ was produced and sold as a means to offset the cost of participating in the various expositions, i.e., Panama-Pacific, Pan-American, Chicago, St. Louis, etc. As stated previously, many were produced by private firms but the U.S. Mint did strike some of them, too.

 

The So-Called Dollar Club met at the SF ANA Show and agreed to work on an update to the HK book. They hope that their compilation will be available sometime next year. It will be quite an undertaking because there has been nothing compiled for 40+ years.

 

Two of my favorites are the HK289, 1901 Pan-American Exposition and the HK583, 1960 Pony Express Centennial. If you are interested in seeing others, check out Bob Berman's eBay site (coins-tokens-medals). He is from New Jersey and has been collecting SC$'s for about 20 years. He has some raw and some slabbed (NGC); some are priced in the stratosphere and some are much easier on the bank account.

 

Chris

[TomB]

Hoot has given you very good information. As for their collector base, I would think that many numismatists own at least a few of these pieces as they are interesting, sometimes beautiful and, until recently, very affordable. I have perhaps one dozen of them yet have never made an effort to buy them; they just get picked up when the opportunity arises.

[cladking]

There are hundreds of the older medals and thousands of newer ones not listed in the Hibbler Kappen work. Many of these are just as important and can often be found for very little money. Many tokens and medal collections can still be assembled on a shoestring if you're willing to put in the time and effort trading and searching for them. There are important and fascinating areas which are peopled by a tiny handful of collectors who usually are very helpful to newbies.

[Merc]

Thanks for the answers everyone. There seems to be a wide range of these medals. Some almost look like US pattern coins.