Introducing Stubbles McGee


By Arturo DelFavero RM522

During the week prior to the 2012 annual F.U.N. show I spotted an eBay listing featuring a coin with familiar artistry. It matched a specimen shown at the bottom of page 45 of Romines book two (by Joyce Ann Romines) which had always intrigued me. Somewhere I also remembered that a match was sold in a past OHNS auction. With a little searching and luck it turned up as Lot #95 in Auction 17 which sold for $121 at FUN2009.

The emergence of a couple new, aggressive, and savvy collectors now on the scene could possibly make this a tough coin to secure. My potential saving grace would be that everyone was focused on the FUN2012 auction in Florida and that the new collectors just weren't up to speed as of yet. As fate had it the perfect storm occurred and I did end up with the coin for a bargain price of $106 including shipping.

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The carving characteristics for "Stubbles McGee" are listed as follows:

  1. Punching to create beard and hair stubble (hence the name).
  2. Bowler hat with vertical lines on hatband.
  3. A circular valley in the beard area in front of ear.
  4. Engraved ears placed far back on head.
  5. Facial lines on forehead, behind nose and over eye.
  6. Mouth altered to smile.
  7. Engraved collars with similar motifs.
  8. Altered profile.
  9. Outline groove from back of head to tip of nose.
  10. Field dressed with LIBERTY and date remaining.
  11. Executed on later date nickels.