KKK: The Invisible Empire aluminum coin

[RoyRogers]

Well, I finally figured out how to start a new thread!! :-)

This Fall, it will be 50 years that I've had this KKK coin in my possession. I've spent many hours searching the Internet trying to find out the exact info pertaining to this coin/token.
I can find an image of the coin at several auction places, but I can't find any info about the coin. I've had the coin since 1965, and if you look at the coin, the coin has an American flag on its back. The KKK has its own flag, and really didn't start using the Confederate battle flag until the 1950s and 1960s, that being the Civil Right period and also integration. So coin has to have some age to it.

I'm thinking the coin came from the 2nd Klan era (1915-1944). But I won't to learn more about the history of this coin, but it's been tough finding out anything.

 

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[sutphin]

MUST BE KKK TOKEN DAY. THIS IS THE 2ND POST ON THIS SUBJECT. BUT THEY ARE HOLDING A RALLY AT THE SC STATE CAPITOL TODAY...

 

[NOLA_Ken]

Posted this on the other thread too : All unpleasantness aside, I think you're right in your thoughts as to the age of the coin. Finding any real details about it might be difficult though as it's likely not mass produced, and if there are other examples still in existence, they are probably hidden away, or long forgotten in attics and basements... It's not the kind of thing most people will want to admit they have found in their grandfathers things, or that they are likely to have kept if they had found it.

There are people who collect that sort of thing, for reasons both good and bad, and it will have some value to them. To me it's an interesting artifact of a time in our country that many would rather forget. Destroying these things does nothing to erase that time, or change that past. It only serves to remove reminders that people could have learned from.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

You don't destroy history... 👍

 

[cw0909]

if you want to invest $$, maybe its history is in the catalog

This is 1977 (1981 Second Edition) Ku Klux Klan TOKENS Exonumia Catalog
and Price Guide by D. E. Birdsell Reference Book
Snyder's Treasures -- KKK Ku Klux Klan Memorabilia

 

[Crispin]

Another coincidence folks. Seems like good ole Roy Rodgers popularized "this Rugged Cross." Lots of memorbilia with good ole Roy and the Kkk. KNIVES ROY ROGERS KKK RED RYDER CASE XX - by South Florida Auctions

 

[Escape]

Doesn't mean Roy Rodger knew his name was being used or that he endorsed it. That's messed up,

 

[cw0909]

those are all separate knives in an auction collection, nothing to do with the OPs token
http://image.invaluable.com/housePhotos/southflorida/43/563743/H5891-L72034622.jpg

 

[jeff of pa]

Another coincidence folks. Seems like good ole Roy Rodgers popularized "this Rugged Cross." Lots of memorbilia with good ole Roy and the Kkk. KNIVES ROY ROGERS KKK RED RYDER CASE XX - by South Florida Auctions

I think your mistaken.

Not that I'd ever be a Roy Rogers Fan

it appears to me there are 5 different Knives being advertised there.
it just happens one is a KKK knife & 1 is a Roy Rogers.


the case was probably put together by a knife collector who bought them seperately

 

[cw0909]

RoyRodgers, did you say you have seen rhis token on the net b4
i looked at the above knife auction site, for kkk, your token isnt
there,ive looked at other auctions and havent seen your token

 

[RoyRogers]

RoyRodgers, did you say you have seen rhis token on the net b4
i looked at the above knife auction site, for kkk, your token isnt
there,ive looked at other auctions and havent seen your token

VINTAGE KU KLUX KLAN THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE COIN - T

 

[cw0909]

interesting, maybe yours is a remake made, during the civil rights of the late
50s and 60s, as yours is alum. and the sold one is silver
i read a blog that rehashed the kkk time/eras, ill look for it again

from your link
This item SOLD at 2010 Jun 13 @ 07:04
VINTAGE KU KLUX KLAN THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE COIN - The Reverse Reads "America First Ku Klux Klan Preserve Racial Purity". Appears to be Silver

 

[cw0909]

that time would be called the,The Third Klan

Invisible Empire: The Ku Klux Klan in America | Occidental Dissent

 

[RoyRogers]

interesting, maybe yours is a remake made, during the civil rights of the late
50s and 60s, as yours is alum. and the sold one is silver
i read a blog that rehashed the kkk time/eras, ill look for it again

from your link
This item SOLD at 2010 Jun 13 @ 07:04
VINTAGE KU KLUX KLAN THE INVISIBLE EMPIRE COIN - The Reverse Reads "America First Ku Klux Klan Preserve Racial Purity". Appears to be Silver

[["as yours is alum. and the sold one is silver" "Appears to be Silver".]] In my opinion, for whatever it's worth, "Appears to be Silver" is an attempt to mislead without taking the risk of deliberating misleading. If it was a sliver coin, being sold at auction, then it definitely would state that the coin was sliver, as sliver weighs about 4 times what aluminum does. You've done some research on trying to find another coin like it and what have you found? Very little, just as I have found very little pertaining to this coin. If this was a remake of another popular coin, wouldn't there be a lot of the out there?

But I'm still looking, as I've looked various times over the last 10 years and haven't come up with much at all.

I thank you and appreciate your help.

BTW: The coin I collected in 1965 is in the same condition now as when I collected it. The wear and tear was already on the coin when I collected it. I've kept it in a drawer for the last 50 years.

 

[trdking]

You don't destroy history... ��

SOmeday these will sit as a collection in the Met in NYC just like the torture devices of the Greeks, Romans, Mayans, CHinese, etc… and on and on.
It is our history and it's no different than a Slave Token, Aunt Jemima, Sitting Bull, Adolph Hitler or anything else. IMO

 

[RoyRogers]

SOmeday these will sit as a collection in the Met in NYC just like the torture devices of the Greeks, Romans, Mayans, CHinese, etc… and on and on.
It is our history and it's no different than a Slave Token, Aunt Jemima, Sitting Bull, Adolph Hitler or anything else. IMO

And hopefully my coin will wind up in a public collection for all to see and learn from. It's one hell of a conversation starter.

 

[diggummup]

Another coincidence folks. Seems like good ole Roy Rodgers popularized "this Rugged Cross." Lots of memorbilia with good ole Roy and the Kkk. KNIVES ROY ROGERS KKK RED RYDER CASE XX - by South Florida Auctions

Come on doc, why drag ole Roy through the mud? Short of Roy and Dale (being one of many) recording the song "Old Rugged Cross" in 1950 and Klan members singing it at cross burnings in the 1920's, Roy Rogers and the KKK have no common interests. His so called "popularization" of the song was decades after the KKK had "popularized" it for their own agenda. The klan, post WW2 was fragmented and broken, compared to the 1920's. They didn't get their 3rd "revival" till the southern states civil rights activities of the 1960's and those groups were mainly comprised of members from several states in the southeastern U.S., which is why the confederate battle flag became a popular item at klan rallies. The flag is another story all in itself.

It's one hell of a conversation starter.

I'll bet it is. My paperweight is from the 2nd revival era and also depicts a US flag. I believe your correct on your assumption as to the date/era your token is from.




PS- Just because someone owns a piece of controversial history does not make that person a bigot or a rascist. More accurately, persons who view those who own these types of items as such, are in fact the bigoted ones if you look at the big picture.

 

[Ant]

Dude the wizard that was eventually convicted of killing Vernon Dahmer was from Laurel. I worked at Sanderson Farms for a couple weeks hanging chickens there, that's the only job that I quit. Then I worked at Lerio Corp and then Hercules Inc. in Hattiesburg.

The KKK is still in Laurel, and your coin is not collectable, there's plenty out there. Try Ellisville or Petal. Again your coin is considered recent and not historical. Heck they still kick over grave stones at Shady Grove. I know the family names that pass those coins out, your from that area you should know them too.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Topic of post is NOT the history of KKK. Put thread back on topic please...

 

[diggummup]

your coin is not collectable, there's plenty out there. Again your coin is considered recent and not historical. I know the family names that pass those coins out.

How can you just state that and expect people to accept it as the gospel? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Show me the page in Birdsell's book that shows it's a modern fake or show me something to back up your statements. There are plenty of fakes and fantasies out there. I don't believe this is one of them, I can find nothing to substantiate your claim.


edit- My apologies, I see you aren't saying it's a fake or fantasy token only that it dates to the 1960's. However, I don't see what the murders have to do with the op's token other than it happened around the same time he acquired the token.