In last week's E-Sylum, Bill Miller wondered about the age of the stamped brass coin gift holder in his collection, similar to one pictured in a January article by Victor Bozarth on the PCGS site.

Based on just the design and manufacturing style, Bill may be right that his coin gift holder dates from the mid-to-late nineteenth century. I believe, though, that these sorts of holders and perhaps even his specific holder were manufactured and used for gold coin gifts all the way into the early 1930s. And similar but less expensive cardboard cases were used for silver coin gifts for even a few more decades into the twentieth century.

Here are photos of a case similar to Bill's, made from the same dies, but with a slightly different hinge and clasp arrangement. It was given to my grandmother by her employer as a Christmas gift circa 1927-28, when she worked as a secretary for a company in Cleveland following her high school graduation, before she was married. The coin inside is a quarter eagle, but the depression in the plush velvet is sized for a half eagle, about 22mm. Maybe the higher-ups in the company were given the higher denomination coin that completely filled the hole.

I very much agree with Victor Bozarth about the importance of keeping coins, or at least medals anyway, in their original holders with as many of the associated documents as possible. I have scores, maybe a few hundred award medals where the original presentation case provides important information about the medalist, retailer, recipient, and/or historical circumstances surrounding the medal that otherwise would be lost. Andrew Wager gave a presentation at the UK Medallion Congress a few years ago on medal cases, and I wish more collectors appreciated the importance and value of cases, like him, Bill, and Victor (and me). It's an interesting topic even unto itself.

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
NOTES FROM E-SYLUM READERS: FEBRUARY 11, 2024 : More on Coin Gift Holders(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n06a13.html)