Duane Feisel avers that [American] calendar medals, in his lengthy experience, first originated during the 1892-93 Worlds Fair Columbian Exposition.

Actually, American calendar medals date back , in my experience, to 1855 (non-mechanical) and 1857 to 1859 (mechanical, protruding metallic nub moves days of the week) with foreign calendar medalsgoing back centuries earlier. But let's just address American mechanical calendar medals as that is what Feisel addresses.

First, there is the pictorial George Washington mechanical calendar medals of 1857-59 by Benjamin C. True, Cinn. diesinker & 1858 by Peter J. Jacobus Phila. diesinker, Baker #'s 385 thru 387,the latter calendar medal rather common, the former moderately scarce. In choice condition - they range around $125.

But in a much higher price range & considerably rarer than your mass-produced & common Worlds Fair Columbian Expo (and later) mechanical calendar medals, there is the 1860 Campaign ferrotype(mini-tintype) versions of a clean shaven Abraham Lincoln (Captain Andrew C. Zabriskie coll'n, Sotheby's 6 /1999 lot 530- catalogue cover plate image ) at an astonishing & unsurpassed$38,500, 18 years ago!

Into the Civil War and post-War political campaigns, Col. Elmer Ellsworth the 1st Union officer killed by a Confederate soldier in 1861 ferrotype mechanical calendar medal. And 1868 PresidentialCampaign & victor "jugate" Gen'l U.S. Grant with VP Stephen Colfax ( JJ Ford, Jr Stack's 9 /2013 lot 12163 ) at $5,581 and Grant alone ( Ford, lot 12164 ) at $2,585. There is alsoreported a ferrotype calendar medal version of Major Robert Anderson Fort Sumter commanding officer. Both the Ellsworth and Anderson ferrotype mechanical calendar medals would be worth each solidfour figures.

On all these ferrotype mechanical calendar medals, you can count each known population on the fingers of one hand and they are tightly- held. Rarer than your 1804 $, 1913 5c or 1894-S 10c. And alot more affordable, yet more challenging to acquire. Not to speak of that many of those extant are not perfect condition.

Hemerologe Medals

I have seen the discussion of perpetual calendars and thought I would chime in about one that is somewhat local to us in the D.C. region. In my collection, I have a brass "Hemerologe"made by James Tipping in Winchester, VA in the 1850s. It is made in two pieces and is supposed to be able to give the date "in all perpetuity."

The two storecards are interesting: they are made in two pieces with one inside the other almost like a shellcard. The letter punches for both storecards appear to have also been used to make thehemerologe. Not only that, both shellcards have different addresses even though they are for the same merchant.

Back in 2011, I wrote a brief article in The Virginia Numismatist about it and included some images of a broadside advertising the hemerologe. Here's what I wrote:

To read the earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
VOCABULARY TERM: CALENDAR MEDAL (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n17a16.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: APRIL 30, 2017 : More on the Perpetual Calendar Medal (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n18a09.html)
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: MAY 7, 2017 : More on Calendar Medals (www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n19a08.html)