Moneta
Registered: August 2005 Location: Arizona USA Posts: 2,365
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OB: EMPLOYED ON HUACHUCA RESERVATION - BY U.S. CONTRACTOR - GARDEN CANYON STORE E. FRY PROPRIETOR GARDEN CANYON, ARIZ.; Rx: blank as original. Certified by NGC as an Anillo Restrike. Original is listed as R10 (1 or 2 known). As for this Anillo Restrike, only 32 sets were made from original L.A. Rubber Stamp Company dies. I assume this was from one of these sets.
With only ONE ORIGINAL KNOWN, struck in brass, I have to be satisfied with a scarce Anillo restrike struck in aluminum. The original die sinker and manufacturer was located in Los Angles and made many of the tokens of the West. Eventually someone (Anillo) bought out the business and made restrikes of many rare tokens using ORIGINAL dies available. The restrikes are also scarce. Not much is known about this token. The one originals' whereabouts is unknown, and more research needs to be done. Peter Spooner has this store in operation between 1928 - 1936. What's strange in the reference to 'RESERVATION' on the token. The Huachuca Camp or RESERVATION became an official FORT in 1882. The use of Reservation rather than Fort or Ft (as in 1888, see Ft. Huachuca Canteen 5c token) is especially odd because the crowded wording on this token could have been shortened if Huachuca (Wa-Chu-ka) was recognised as a Fort at the time of the original striking. Another observation, with only 1 known it's very likely that not many were struck and perhaps only one as a sample strike. This die had very fine lettering compared to most other tokens and would not have stood up well, yet the restrike from the original die is pristine and sharp. The Spooner (Arizona Trade Tokens 2010) catalog shows only one side and may be an image of an Anillo Restrike. Was the original brass token a single sided affair? Few tokens are totally blank on the reverse. I'm inclined to think that the brass original was a trial strike. The original strike, wherever it is, is probably UNIQUE. I'd pay just to have a peek!
Fry, located in the foothills of the beautiful Huachuca Mountains in Cochise County, was named for Oliver Fry. During the 1950s, local promoters changed the name to the more mellifluous-sounding, Sierra Vista. “Who in their right mind,” they reasoned, “would want to move to Fry, Arizona?” [Andrea Aker - ArizonaOddities.com]
The Anillo Restrike Catalog contains this information:
EMPLOYED ON HUACHUCA RESERVATION / GARDEN CANYON STORE /
E. / FRY / PROPRIETOR / GARDEN CANYON, ARIZ. / BY U.S.
CONTRACTOR
(blank) (1968-69 Anillo restrike)
[Garden Canyon, Arizona] (Also attributed to Sierra Vista) TC-516351 Appears on 1
obverse: TC-314871*. Only ONE original brass piece, has been seen by Birt or Spooner.
Whereabouts of the brass token is unknown.
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