Jonathan K. Kern Inventory
1892-1893 Box Dollar locket
Vitae
Date: 1892-1893 AD
Dimensions: 38mm (coin diameter)
Obverse
Reverse
Additional Pic — open
Additional Notes
I believe almost all of these were made and sold at the Chicago World’s Fair, usually from US Trade Dollars, since they could be bought for much less than $1. Silver got as low as 30 cents a troy ounce during the recession of 1893, and a demonetized Trade dollar could be bought easily for 50 cents by merchants in the know. Apparently a Japanese silver yen got mixed in with Trade dollars on the way back from the Orient and making a box dollar was the best use for it. Nice useable gold fill chain to wear or use as watch fob. Portrait of dear lady unidentified on front, but I have not disassembled it to look at back. I have seen at least one Columbian commemorative half dollar locket, and I think at least one other foreign coin, and possibly a Morgan dollar locket. Value of these is dependent on working hinge, which is just fine on this.
Cost: $727