Tokens of the Patrick Mint

Tokens of the Patrick Mint

By Dr. Sol Taylor
"Making Cents"
Saturday, March 15, 2008

n 1976, I ordered 500 bronze bicentennial bronze tokens manufactured by the Patrick Mint as my personal numismatic business card. I have one left. On the obverse is a very close imitation of the Indian Head cent of 1859-1909 with the words, "United States Bicentennial," above and the dual dates 1776-1976 below.
    Apparently the Patrick Mint, a private minting company in the San Francisco area, was promoting the idea of personal store cards (similar to Civil War-era store cards) for coin dealers — and other business professionals, as well.
    Technically, these little pieces were known as tokens only when they had some value on the back such as "Good For A Beer" or "5% Discount" or "Good For 5 cents in trade."
    Although all of the tokens made from 1976-79 are called tokens, technically only those with monetary value are actually tokens. The rest are store cards.
    The choice of obverse designs included the flying eagle, Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell and other typical American icons.
    The reverse included the name and address and phone number of the owner. My personal token stated on the reverse: "Dr. Sol Taylor / appraisals, investments, brokerage / (714) 633-9821 / P.O. Box 51, Orange, CA 92866.
    The Patrick Mint issued a total 949 different bicentennial issues, and are all illustrated in the booklet, "The Bicentennial Tokens of The Patrick Mint." If one counts the tokens issued in addition to the bicentennial tokens, the total was 1,341 different tokens.
    According to a recent online review of the Patrick Mint, the company is offering overruns of these 1976 issues in lots of 1,000 ( 700 different pieces) for $349 postpaid. The dies have been retired and no additional tokens can be made.
    The review indicates that no one has a complete set of tokens, and possibly a few sets exist by state; 45 different states are represented by these tokens. In a few cases, only one or two different tokens are known for a state, including: Hawaii, 1 known; Mississippi, 2 known; Montana, 1 known; Utah, 2 known; Vermont, 2 known; and West Virginia, 2 known. Also, 16 different non-U.S. tokens were issued.
    In addition to the bicentennial tokens, the Patrick Mint produced series of tokens for "Great Events in the American Revolution," " Great Americans," " Great Events in American Numismatics" and "Automatic Musical Instruments." In each case, 50 different tokens were issued, and these are still available from the Patrick Mint for $29.95 per set.
    For details on ordering any products, visit PatrickMint.com.

Dr. Sol Taylor of Sherman Oaks is president of the Society of Lincoln Cent Collectors and author of The Standard Guide to the Lincoln Cent. Click here for ordering information.