Coin of the Day 9-14-18
Technically this is not a coin as it has no monetary value and was not minted by a sovereign nation. It's more like a token, but for simplicity's sake, I left the title the same.
This is a 1988 USCG Barque Eagle / Tall Ships Visit Australia token. It celebrates the visit of the US Coast Guard sailing ship visiting Australia during its 200 year anniversary. It is made out of aluminum and is approximately the size of an Eisenhower dollar, and approximately half the thickness.
The other side has a depiction of Australia and some of her plants and animals, including the Roo!
The tokens were made to commemorate the sailing ship on her journey to Australia. Why Australia?
At the personal invitation of Australian Prime Minister Robert Hawke, in September 1987, Eagle undertook a yearlong deployment to Australia from her home at the Coast Guard Academy. During this voyage Academy instructors were embarked to conduct the cadets' classes while underway. The trip involved stops at numerous Pacific islands and visits to the Australian ports of Lord Howe Island, Newcastle, Brisbane, Hobart, Sydney, and Manly, encompassing more than eight months away from her homeport of New London, Connecticut.
That's just one highlight of the USCG Barque Eagle. According to Wiki, she was originally a German ship whose christening was attended by Hitler. She was given to the US by the Germans after WWII as reparations. She is currently a training vessel for the US Coast Guard.
I would have liked to find more information on the mintage and mint that made this token, but the information seems to be lacking. If you know more about the token, I'd love to hear from you. Otherwise, still feel free to drop a comment and let me know what you think about the token.
Very cool coin! :) The detail on the ship and the country is very good. Cool history behind it too.
I'm having a lot of fun learning about the history behind a lot of these coins and tokens. Some of them I had an idea of the history, but a lot of the more obscure ones, I had no clue. So it's fun to learn new things. Maybe they should have kids do school this way. Just kidding. I don't know. Ha!
hahaha well imagine how much more fun school would be if they did it that way. haha :) Yeah it is so fun learning about the history of coins. I want to learn more about the history of my parents gold coin. hehe.
Go for it! Maybe they can tell you the family history of it too, if you don't already know. Some of the book history won't be able to tell you the family stories or the stories personal to the specific coin.
I don't think they know the history of the coin, it is the one they found in a storage unit. but it would be fun to find out exactly where it came from. haha
I like this token. It is a pity that it is not silver...
I agree! Silver would have been 38x better.
I think you only need this coin for your collection my friend
It looks very nice! I wouldn't mind getting one for my collection, but I think they're primarily made out of nickel. If they have silver versions of them, sign me up!
How much can one of those coins buy right now?
You need 2 coins of that to pay the parking of a shopping center, I think it's for the only thing they serve and for a bus ticket
and it is necessary to add that they are scarce it is difficult to obtain them
Is there a collector's market for this type of token? I know you said it did not have monetary value, but there is always a good market for old collectible tokens.
I did some searching online, but it seems that if there is a market, it's small. It's a US Coast Guard token, so it's probably a very narrow set of people who would be interested. I saw some for sale for around $3.00, but one had been for sale for 11 months, so it doesn't seem the demand is there. I really liked getting to learn about the history of the ship more than the history of the token. It was quite interesting.
Thank you for your continued support of SteemSilverGold
Glad to do it. Thank you!
wow sir noname another interesting and very unique token with a fascinating history! great job! you could almost do this stuff for a living.