Found a neat part of political history

[Belsnickel]

So, yesterday I got home with a car full of heirlooms and valuables from my uncle's house. I was going through some of it, today, and came across this.


Now, at first I just looked at the date and got excited because this what the first of three elections when the Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan, quite the name in Democratic politics during that time period. But then the city caught my eye. That convention was in Chicago, not Indianapolis. So I did some research and found out that a group of Democrats that were not happy with Bryan's nomination, split and had their own convention. These were for that second, conservative Democratic convention.

The button has an image of MacArthur and says "Win or die" and the medal is a 1913 inaugural medal for Woodrow Wilson.

Just some neat stuff I thought I'd share.

[BmorePat87]

Nice finds!

[Belsnickel]

(08-24-2020, 05:55 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Nice finds!

Yeah, ti was quite surprising. I got more excited about this than the currency, of which there was a lot. He collected coins and there is several thousand, likely tens of thousands, of dollars sitting on the bench I was using to organize things. Morgan silver dollars that were almost all grade 60+, 56 silver eagle bullion coins, mint proof sets, uncirculated sets, and mint proof silver sets dating back over decades. I even found colonial era paper currency of two shillings with a certificate of authenticity attached and a Russian palladium coin.

[BmorePat87]

(08-24-2020, 06:35 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, ti was quite surprising. I got more excited about this than the currency, of which there was a lot. He collected coins and there is several thousand, likely tens of thousands, of dollars sitting on the bench I was using to organize things. Morgan silver dollars that were almost all grade 60+, 56 silver eagle bullion coins, mint proof sets, uncirculated sets, and mint proof silver sets dating back over decades. I even found colonial era paper currency of two shillings with a certificate of authenticity attached and a Russian palladium coin.

Oh, nice! I used to collect coins, mostly foreign. The antiques shop I would get it from had colonial money. Coolest I have is some Iraqi currency with Sadam on it and some French coins from WWI that are incredibly flimsy. 

[GMDino]

(08-24-2020, 06:35 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, ti was quite surprising. I got more excited about this than the currency, of which there was a lot. He collected coins and there is several thousand, likely tens of thousands, of dollars sitting on the bench I was using to organize things. Morgan silver dollars that were almost all grade 60+, 56 silver eagle bullion coins, mint proof sets, uncirculated sets, and mint proof silver sets dating back over decades. I even found colonial era paper currency of two shillings with a certificate of authenticity attached and a Russian palladium coin.

Zounds!

My grandfather left me a bunch of receipts he saved for 50 years and book of dirty jokes and a bible from his time in WWII.  

[Dill]

(08-24-2020, 04:14 PM)Belsnickel Wrote: So, yesterday I got home with a car full of heirlooms and valuables from my uncle's house. I was going through some of it, today, and came across this.


Now, at first I just looked at the date and got excited because this what the first of three elections when the Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan, quite the name in Democratic politics during that time period. But then the city caught my eye. That convention was in Chicago, not Indianapolis. So I did some research and found out that a group of Democrats that were not happy with Bryan's nomination, split and had their own convention. These were for that second, conservative Democratic convention.

The button has an image of MacArthur and says "Win or die" and the medal is a 1913 inaugural medal for Woodrow Wilson.

Just some neat stuff I thought I'd share.

I liked Bryan.  Who were the "conservative" Dems running. 

[Belsnickel]

(08-25-2020, 02:45 AM)Dill Wrote: I liked Bryan.  Who were the "conservative" Dems running. 

Here is what I found about their ticket: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1896_United_States_presidential_election#National_Democratic_Party_nomination

I didn't save the link I was reading the whole story, from, but it was pretty interesting.

[Belsnickel]

(08-24-2020, 09:32 PM)GMDino Wrote: Zounds!

My grandfather left me a bunch of receipts he saved for 50 years and book of dirty jokes and a bible from his time in WWII.  

Yeah, I had some of that, as well. But I also found my (step) grandfather's flag, dog tags, and ribbons from WWII as well as some other neat stuff. And I took home 7 firearms. There is a lot more to go through, but I took what I could that would be high value targets. The unfortunate thing it none of it is really mine. I have a cousin who has been estranged from the family for 30ish years and a sister. Because my uncle passed away intestate with no children of his own, the estranged cousin is entitled to half of the value of the estate and my sister and I split the other half. Plus, my uncle was a drunk and had been without a job for over a year, so he was accumulating debt. So if I am lucky, the coins and such will cover the outstanding debt and expenses related to all of this.

[GMDino]

(08-25-2020, 07:20 AM)Belsnickel Wrote: Yeah, I had some of that, as well. But I also found my (step) grandfather's flag, dog tags, and ribbons from WWII as well as some other neat stuff. And I took home 7 firearms. There is a lot more to go through, but I took what I could that would be high value targets. The unfortunate thing it none of it is really mine. I have a cousin who has been estranged from the family for 30ish years and a sister. Because my uncle passed away intestate with no children of his own, the estranged cousin is entitled to half of the value of the estate and my sister and I split the other half. Plus, my uncle was a drunk and had been without a job for over a year, so he was accumulating debt. So if I am lucky, the coins and such will cover the outstanding debt and expenses related to all of this.

Sorry about that last part.

I have lots of mementos from one grandfather and really want the footlocker from my other but my uncle has it and won't let it go so it sits in his attic.

The story was the my mother's dad brought back a bayonet from his time in Europe during WWII but it was lost/stolen.  That would have been cool to have.

My dad's dad was in Panama during WWII.  I have some postcards and photos but that's all so far.