Encased Coin Collecting (Good Luck Pieces)

 Just a short introduction into the back ground of my collecting interests. I was a dedicated coin collector for many years and happily purchased the key & semi-key coins that make up what is considered modern day coinage. This was until the Hunt Brothers of Texas notoriety started to try and corner the market on silver. This of course had driven the price of silver up to previously unheard of levels. It also started my demise as to coin collecting. Coins that were previously listed as semi-rare & rare now became known as generic. Prices on collector coins had also falsely escalated during this time frame. It was then that I decided to give up collecting coins with the exception of Buffalo Nickels & Indian Head Pennies. In the early 1980’s I moved to Florida and continued to pursue better grade Buffalo & Indian Head coins (as my pocket book would allow). I spent my spare time attending coin shows, flea markets, and antique shows, always looking for bargain trading material. It was at this time I acquired some Florida, good for tokens & some Transportation tokens. I then began saving them in earnest. After that, I started browsing dealer junk or bargain boxes (a good source for tokens at that time) for hours, buying anything I could use for trading material. All the while I kept buying, tokens, medals, encased coins, odds & ends. During the early 1980’s there wasn’t much attention paid to encased coins. I frequently purchased them for well under a dollar and in some cases for a quarter. I bought all I came across, as I considered them trading material for tokens. In the early 1990’s I joined the “Token and Medal Society”, as I had acquired so many items and I didn’t know what I had, and had no idea of value. Shortly after that I received a published quarterly journal from “TAMS” titled “Frederick Earl Fankhauser, The Penny Man, His Life and Work with Encased Coins”, by Bryan G. Ryker. After reading the book, from that point on, I was hooked on saving encased coins.

If you are new to collecting encased, I highly recommend Bryan’s book to anyone interested in saving encased coins. It contains a wealth of knowledge, weather you save Fankhauser encased or not. The book; when issued, identified 671 encased issued by Earl. Two of the 671 pieces are horseshoe shaped and the balance is round. The total includes 17 Canadian encased pennies, 7 Jefferson nickels, 3 dimes (1 Roosevelt, 1 Mercury & 1 Canadian dime), a Belgium franc & Panamanian cent. With book in hand I went through my encased coins and found that I had acquired over 150 different pieces. That love affair grew. Today, I have 605 Fankhauser encased. Two of my pieces are not listed but have been attributed to Fankhauser by Bryan Ryker.  These two pieces for you Fankhauser collectors are as follows and are identified by the numbering system Mr. Ryker uses;

     LONG ISLAND // HOT DOGS / 133 W. MAIN ST.  1953D ¢ (In)-(Fwa)-Lo-19

     MERRY CHRISTMAS // COUNTY TRUST CO. OF MARYLAND / Annapolis

     Maryland.  1953D Nickel Md-Ann-Co-09

I also have a third piece that is not mentioned in the book, identified as follows;

     RAY HOLMES // 22527 Van Dyke Ave. / Warren Mich.  1960D ¢ Mi-War-Ho-11

Most people that save encased agree that Fankhauser encased are quite common and are readily available. Just log on to eBay or read an auction catalog and you can see many of them up for sale or auction. Since no records are available to determine the amount produced one can only wonder. Least you think it is easy to complete a set, think about this. Of the 60 plus Fankhausers (including cents, nickels & dimes) that I need, I have never seen any of the 60 plus different encased up for auction. Not one piece has appeared on eBay, in auction catalogs or trade lists, etc., that I have seen. I have been an eBay member since November of 1998. Least you think that none are scarce, think again. Documentation exists and identifies these pieces, but where they are, remains a mystery & a challenge to acquire.

By this time I was actively selling off all my Florida & Transit tokens, and spent all my collecting dollars on encased coins (good luck pieces). I say this because I have run ads in the coin papers advertising to purchase or trade encased coins. Some of the responses I received, where for "slabbed" coins.

Since over the years I had accumulated so many different encased coins from various places, my next goal was to acquire one from each state. With the help of eBay & a lot of trading, I now have at least one from each state. I mention eBay only for the fact that you can see a large number of listings of encased from many places up for auction. My next goal with encased was to get one piece for each year from 1909 to the present. This was a relatively easy accomplishment & I now have at least one for the years 1909 -2004.

Still looking for new horizons, I decided to try and complete a state collection of encased from the “Chevrolet National Advertising Campaign Of 1948”. Outside of the Fankhausers that I still need, this has been my most challenging & expensive undertaking to date. I am currently in the process of trying to complete this project, but I am far from achieving it. The Chevrolet encased series, although pretty common & the encased readily available, the theme is popular with encased collectors (as well as collectors of Chevrolet memorabilia) and prices are extremely high and the demand for them is also high. I have one encased coin from 32 different Chevrolet Dealers, representing 32 states all dated with 1948 cents. As I mentioned, earlier mintage figures are not available as to how many pieces of a given issue were manufactured. There are rare & semi-rare encased. The actual value for these pieces and in all cases, is determined by the theme, geographical area where it was issued, age, condition & the given number of people trying to acquire them. There are also exceptions to determine a piece's value. This is quite evident on eBay, where bidding can be furious on a given piece, driving prices up. This is also true with Florida encased, which is also one of my collecting passions. There scarcity plus the large number of encased collectors living in Florida, make Florida encased hard to come buy. Another popular theme is the “Victory World Peace, VE Day, and VJ Day’. These encased contain a penny dated from the year 1945 (yes I save these also).

By now you can see that I save all encased coins. I consider myself a true collector, as I am just as happy acquiring a new encased from a Coin Show as I would be should I acquire a new Florida piece (richer to I might add.) The popularity of collecting encased coins is on the rise. This is due in part to many factors. Trade publications (Coin World, Numismatic News, TAMS, etc.) all have published articles on encased coins. eBay has also created a large awareness of encased. An organization that was formed to advance the collecting interests of encased is “ACE”, Associated Collectors of Encased. This organization is probably the single number one reason for the increased popularity of encased collecting. ACE is currently under reconstruction, my term for lack of better words. It has undertaken the huge task of identifying and cataloging all known encased coins. Many encased state Catalogers have also published there respective state listings.

Collecting encased can be a knowledgeable & rewarding hobby. I like to look it this way. When you save Lincoln pennies you have on the average three coins from each year to collect. Using the year 1938 as an example, you would have to acquire three coins, 1938P, D & S. If you started saving encased issued from the year 1938, you would have hundreds to choose from, maybe thousands. Each piece would be unique to each other. For those collectors just starting out, unlike coin collecting, saving encased coins need not be expensive. Many encased are still available for three dollars or less. As your interests grow, you will have found a interesting and rewarding hobby.

In closing, I will address the issue of eBay. I actively buy encased on-line, but to the novice, caution beware. I have been guilty of bidding on a attractive encased that I wanted & eventually won, being the high bidder. In some cases, I paid way to much (my decision alone). Shortly thereafter I would see an identical piece being auctioned by the same seller at a very low opening bid. This indicates that the seller has a large holding of these items & will eventually sell the remaining pieces at a much lower cost, as bidding demand ceases. The word is wait, unless you absolutely have to have the item.

Happy Collecting

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