- Mar 30, 2020
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- All Treasure Hunting
Found my third token since I picked up the hobby last August. By now many of you know me as being wordy. Here is a re-post of something I just wrote on another site:
Metal Detecting finds can sometimes lead to strange history lessons. Take today for example, my surprise when unearthing a large coin-sized object, 4" deep from a forest floor, with a Swastika on it. At first I had heart palpitations because I thought I had landed another rare US Draped Bust large cent from the 1700's. But my experience has taught me 4" of depth roughly equals 100 years in these parts. And I rightly surmised anything with a Swatiska on it most likely predated 1940. Turns out it is a token made sometime between 1907 and 1936 with the inscription: "Membership Emblem of the Don't Worry Club."
In 1894, Theodore Frelinghuysen Seward, a musicologist, published a book entitled The Don't Worry Philosophy. He followed this up with Don't Worry: or, Spiritual Emancipation in 1897 and The Don't Worry Movement in 1898. The Don't Worry doctrine was somewhat vague, but it was essentially an attempt to rescue the essence of Christianity from all the layers of dogma built over the previous 2,000 years. Though even Seward had trouble providing a succinct definition.
Tokens were popular in American culture and became a means of advertising. The one I found is uni-faced, the other side left blank. But many companies advertised using this token. In a very strange twist I just learned about, the Boy Scout movement used the Swastika for badges and clubs, especially through the Excelsior Shoe company using a variation of this token as a proof of purchase. Check out this link if you want to see this bizaredom:
Swastikas in Scouting
Since this one lacks advertising I think it is an early representative of the Don't Worry Movement. Researching further in archived local newspapers, this passage seems relevant:
"But apparently there were also some semi-organized, or ad hoc, clubs. The one in Brooklyn seemed to be principally an excuse for going on Sunday outings. An article in The Eagle from July 1901 is entitled "Exalted Optimists' Outing." In this adventure, the "aggregation without a home, an organization or any hope of future temporal existence," traveled via the Long Island Railroad to Montauk. Reference is made to the baggage car and worrying while traveling through "no license" (dry) towns. I infer that they had a bar set up there."
This could be a relic from one of these early turn of the century group outings. This was found in the town one railroad stop from the end of line in Montauk. One things for sure, losing it was not lucky. It lay hidden for essentially a lifetime. It is the third token I found since last August, the others being an 1836 Hard Times Token and Firestone Tire Budget Plan with $10 off.
Metal Detecting finds can sometimes lead to strange history lessons. Take today for example, my surprise when unearthing a large coin-sized object, 4" deep from a forest floor, with a Swastika on it. At first I had heart palpitations because I thought I had landed another rare US Draped Bust large cent from the 1700's. But my experience has taught me 4" of depth roughly equals 100 years in these parts. And I rightly surmised anything with a Swatiska on it most likely predated 1940. Turns out it is a token made sometime between 1907 and 1936 with the inscription: "Membership Emblem of the Don't Worry Club."
In 1894, Theodore Frelinghuysen Seward, a musicologist, published a book entitled The Don't Worry Philosophy. He followed this up with Don't Worry: or, Spiritual Emancipation in 1897 and The Don't Worry Movement in 1898. The Don't Worry doctrine was somewhat vague, but it was essentially an attempt to rescue the essence of Christianity from all the layers of dogma built over the previous 2,000 years. Though even Seward had trouble providing a succinct definition.
Tokens were popular in American culture and became a means of advertising. The one I found is uni-faced, the other side left blank. But many companies advertised using this token. In a very strange twist I just learned about, the Boy Scout movement used the Swastika for badges and clubs, especially through the Excelsior Shoe company using a variation of this token as a proof of purchase. Check out this link if you want to see this bizaredom:
Swastikas in Scouting
Since this one lacks advertising I think it is an early representative of the Don't Worry Movement. Researching further in archived local newspapers, this passage seems relevant:
"But apparently there were also some semi-organized, or ad hoc, clubs. The one in Brooklyn seemed to be principally an excuse for going on Sunday outings. An article in The Eagle from July 1901 is entitled "Exalted Optimists' Outing." In this adventure, the "aggregation without a home, an organization or any hope of future temporal existence," traveled via the Long Island Railroad to Montauk. Reference is made to the baggage car and worrying while traveling through "no license" (dry) towns. I infer that they had a bar set up there."
This could be a relic from one of these early turn of the century group outings. This was found in the town one railroad stop from the end of line in Montauk. One things for sure, losing it was not lucky. It lay hidden for essentially a lifetime. It is the third token I found since last August, the others being an 1836 Hard Times Token and Firestone Tire Budget Plan with $10 off.
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