1878 Exposition Universelle Aluminum Token

Russ Sears writes:

I shared this with Pete Smith, who writes:

George Clapp: Co-founder of ALCOA
Pete Smith writes:

More Early Uses of Aluminum

Someone asked the question in the last issue of The E-Sylum about the earliest regular of common use of aluminum in coins and medals. The first part is easy. The world's first aluminum coins actually made for circulation and put into use were the 1907 and 1908 coins of British East Africa (1/2 penny KM 6; 1 penny KM 5) and British West Africa (1/10 penny KM 1). Aluminum corroded too quickly in the humid environment and the metal was changed to copper nickel. So regular aluminum coinage begins in the 20th century, after nearly 50 years of experimentation in the United States and also in Europe.

As for medals made of aluminum, I would say the first regular use was for the Worlds Columbian Exposition (Chicago Worlds Fair) of 1892-1893. Dozens of different souvenir medals were made, some of them extolling the virtues of the "new metal". Among those who had medals made were the Illinois Pure Aluminum Company, the Cincinnati Pure Aluminum Company (there were a number of companies at the turn of the century with names ending in "Pure Aluminum Company") and the Pittsburgh Reduction Company -- which not long afterwards changed its name to the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA).

Before World War II, Alcoa was the only producer of aluminum in the United States, though there were many companies which manufactured products from aluminum. In the 1890's Alcoa was hoping for large orders for aluminum sheets or bars, but most of the products made in those days were "novelty products" such as tokens, medals and advertising items made in many forms (including business cards). The first successful large scale production of aluminum products were tea pots. They can be identified in antique shops by the use of screws or rivets to hold the parts together -- no one knew yet how to weld aluminum.

There are probably earlier uses of aluminum in medals, when the cost of the metal was not important to the issuer. Silver and even gold medals were common enough in the 1800's, so if some society wanted to award a medal, they might have had it made of aluminum at some time before 1892. I would not be surprised to find a pre-1892 medal issued by an engineering or manufacturing society.

I have not seen Russ Sears' 1878 French medal, but as I predicted, such a medal was produced by a progressive organization, in this case, the Aluminium Society. I have never heard of this society, but I am not surprised it exists. Note that France uses the same spelling as England -- aluminium.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
EARLIEST NUMISMATIC ALUMINUM AS A COMMON METAL? (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n25a20.html)