World Columbian Exposition
Chicago, Illinois 1893

Richard Learn TEC #2791 has compiled images of almost every variation of the ECs from the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. He has identified two 'new' variations and detailed information on their identification follows. All images unless otherwise noted are from Richard's personal collection.

Click on any of the variation numbers to view images on many different denominations.

* Modern Die

Two New Dies For ILL-WCE
By Richard Learn TEC #2791

In my quest to find a better way of identifying the different dies used to produce the World Colombian Exposition of 1893 Elongates, I have found two new dies that have not been reported before. Before I explain how to identify these new dies, I will first cover a little history of the event and then go over some common ground on how elongates are cataloged.

At the World Colombian Exposition (WCE) held in Chicago, Illinois in 1893 was the first time that a person could take a coin from their pocket or purse and place it into a machine that would "squash" or elongate the coin. The elongated token would have raised writing on it that showed that the token was made at the WCE. These keepsakes became very popular with exposition visitors. To keep up with the demand many elongating machines were scattered around the exposition. Each machine had its own die to make one of the seven different designs available at the exposition. These seven different designs were made from twenty-one different dies.

WCE-1
WCE -2

The two new dies are both from the same design. This design is known as WCE-1. The WCE stands for the World Colombian Exposition, and the -1 stands for the first design identified. A WCE-2 would be the second design identified for the World Colombian Exposition and so forth. The WCE-1 design is made up of three lines of text. The top line reads "COLOMBIAN". The center line reads "1893", and the bottom line reads "EXPOSITION". This design has no stars to the left or right of the three lines. The WCE-2 design is the same as WCE-1 design, but does have a star to the right and to the left of the three lines of text.

Each design used was produced from one or more dies. To identify what die a token is made from, a small letter is added to the design description starting with the second die identified for that design. A WCE-1a stands for the first design and the second die identified. A WCE-1c stands for the first design and the fourth die identified. A WCE-1 stands for the first design and the first die identified.. There were seven different dies known for the WCE-1 design (-1 to -1f). I would like to have my new dies identified as WCE-1g and WCE-1h, making now nine different dies for the WCE-1 design.

HOW TO IDENTIFY THE NEW DIES

ROUND 3 FLAT 3

The WCE-1 design comes in two varieties. The two varieties differ in the shape of the "3" of "1893". The two new dies and three of the other WCE-1 design dies all have the"3"of "1893" with a Flat Top. The remaining four WCE-1 design dies all have the "3" of "1893" with a Round Top. To determine the difference between the different Flat Top dies use the following list. Start at the first step and continue down the list until the token you have matches one of the steps.

  1. If the "U" of "COLOMBIAN" is positioned over the "8" of "1893", the token is die WCE-1f.

  2. If the "1" of "1893" is positioned over the first "O" of "EXPOSITION", the token is the NEW die WCE-1h.

  3. If the distance between the "N" of "COLOMBIAN" and the "N" of "EXPOSITION" (see distance B above) is about the same as the height of the "3" of "1893" (see distance C above), and the distance between the "C" of COLOMBIAN" and the "E" of "EXPOSITION" (see distance A above) is the same as the distance 'B' the token is die WCE-1. (Note: distances A and B above are about equal and about 3mm)
  4. If the distance 'B' is about the same as 'C', and the distance 'B' is larger than the distance 'A' the token is NEW die WCE-1g. (Note: distances 'A' is about 2.5mm and distance 'B' is about 3mm)
  5. If the distance 'B' is much smaller than distance 'C', the token is die WCE-1a. (Note: distances 'B' is about 1.0mm and distance 'C' is about 3mm)

This article was originally published (and ©) in the October 2002 TEC NEWS, the newsletter of The Elongated Collectors and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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