1918 Service with the American Army So-Called Dollar (SCD-295c) with C.E. Stark Counterstamp
Lot Description
An uncataloged 1918-dated Service with the American Army So-Called Dollar, counterstamped with the recipient's name, C. E. Stark.
The Specimen
Service with the American Army medal, counterstamped "C. E. STARK"
- Date
- 1918
New Discovery
The annual So-Called Dollar Fellowship Gathering is a time of new discoveries and 2023 was no different. The So-Called Dollar prsented here is notable for two things:
- a variation not previously cataloged
- a counterstamp with the recipient’s name
The existing pieces in Hibler & Kappen’s So-Called Dollar catalog (HK-892, HK-893 and HK-894) pieces are dated “1917” instead of “1918”. And while other variations of the “Keep Your Powder Dry” medals have been cataloged as So-Called Dollars by NGC and SoCalledDollar.com, this variation hadn’t yet.
Additionally, this specimen is counterstamped with the name of the recipient “C. E. STARK” and the year “1918”.
Photos courtesy of John Wang.
The following is a specimen of HK-892 for comparison showing the “1917” date on the obverse:
Photos courtesy of PCGS.
New Designation
I picked up this medal for my So-Called Dollar sub-collection of war service medals because it was counterstamped, but I didn’t realize it was an uncataloged variety. Only when creating my presentation for the 2023 Fellowship Gathering, titled So-Called Dollars for War Service, did I realize it was uncataloged. NGC had done good job of cataloging variations of the “Keep Your Powder Dry” medals, so I had assumed this would have been cataloged as well. Here are the existing HK and NGC designations:
- HK-892, HK-893, HK-894: “SERVICE WITH AMERICAN ARMY IN THE WORLDS WAR, 1917”
- HK-894B / SCD-300: “SERVICE WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE 1918”
- HK-894C / SCD-299: “CALLED TO THE COLORS JUNE 18, 1916 * FOR SERVICE ON THE MEXICAN BORDER”
- HK-894D / SCD-296: “IN MEMORY OF MY ARMY LIFE ON THE MEXICAN BORDER”
- HK-894E / SCD-297: “SERVED IN MEXICO WITH THE AMERICAN PUNITIVE EXPEDITION IN PURSUIT OF VILLA 1916”
- HK-894F / SCD-298: “BATTLE OF VERA CRUZ * APRIL 21st, 1914”
- HK-894G / SCD-301: “NATIONAL GUARD ENCAMPMENT 1921”
- HK-894H / SCD-302: “NATIONAL GUARD ENCAMPMENT 1921”
- HK-894I / SCD-303: “NATIONAL GUARD ENCAMPMENT 1923”
- HK-894J / SCD-304: “NATIONAL GUARD ENCAMPMENT 1924”
In working with John Raymond, this is now cataloged as “SCD-285c” on SoCalledDollar.com. This has not been cataloged by NGC to date, though they have cataloged several other So-Called Dollars with the “Keep Your Powder Dry” theme, so it may just be a matter of submitting one. Additionally, I will be working with Jeff Shevlin and John Raymond to see if these will be cataloged in their upcoming Volume 2 book on So-Called Dollars.
“C.E. STARK” Counterstamp
The counterstamp on this piece is notable because while the WWI and WWI Victory Medals (HK-901, HK-902, HK-910) are military-issued service medals and often associated with their recipients, the various “Keep Your Powder Dry” medals denote military service, but often are not associated with individuals. One reason his may be the case is the thought that these were sold to people to pass on to this in service, so the issuer may not have known the name of the intended recipients. The counterstamp on this particular piece with individual letters uses an approach often seen with Civil War dog tags and is an important link to the history of the people who served.
Initial searches have not identified a “C. E. STARK” that served and is an open area of research. This may be due to the use if a first initial due to the limited space on the piece.