January 15, 1908 "Cosmos Club" Token, UNIQUE Token, Unlisted Piece of Americana

January 15, 1908 "Cosmos Club" Token, UNIQUE Token, Unlisted Piece of Americana

Offered for your consideration is an extremely rare--if not unique--token that was likely struck to commemorate the opening of the Cosmos Club in Venice, California on January 15, 1908. The Cosmos Club was a women's socialite club that was build on the site of what was once known as the "Venice of America." It was a resort area that was conceived by tobacco tycoon Abbot Kinney. I believe that his wife was the spearhead of the construction of the Cosmos Club. The photos included in this listing were found on the internet. There's not much information readily available for this development, and far less info (i.e. nothing) regarding the token offered here. In fact, this piece is not even listed in the online Token Catalog. It weighs 2.54 grams and has a diameter of 19.2 mm (about the size of a dime).

As for the token, we would call it a nice AU piece that retains tinges of red coloration. We not recutting of the "5" in the date on both sides, as well as recutting of the "U" in CLUB on one side. This die manipulation is completely typical for the period, and it is easy to conclude that many examples were struck for the opening of the Cosmos Club in 1908. However, we could not locate even a mention of another example. This is indeed a rare piece that, fortunately, survived the ravishes of time

We encourage the next owner to do more research on "Venice in America". We have included an excerpt in image form taken from the online site atlasobscura. It is a great place to start your research, but there's much more to be uncovered.

You will receive the exact coin the one in the photo.

FREE shipping and insurance, plus FREE 30 day returns. No questions asked and we pay for return shipping.

You will receive the exact coin shown in the photos.

Shipped with USPS Priority Mail with tracking.