A Handbook on
E. W. Cole
His Book Arcade, Tokens and Medals, by George D. Dean
With Forewords by Cole Turnley and Ray Jewell.
The Tokens section of this website contains images of Cole’s tokens taken by George Dean and are reproduced with his permission – and thanks.
The D number next to each token is the Dean number, as summarised in George’s book and gives full numismatic information for each face.
George introduces his book with:
In this volume I have endeavoured to provide an insight into the life of E. W. Cole that will forever endure in the hearts of collectors of his Book Arcade tokens and medals.
While personal recollections of Cole himself may have all but vanished, his Funny Picture Books Nos. 1 and 2 need virtually no advertising and still they moralize, entertain and induce readers young and old to think, smile and often wonder at his genius. That his books will continue to captivate I have no doubt, but it is his series of tokens and medals that will go on reminding us of a bygone era, a time when one was taught A GUIDE TO (good) CONDUCT; (to) BE GOOD AND (to) DO GOOD; (and that) EVERYONE SHOULD BE TAUGHT TO READ AND INDUCED TO THINK; LOVE ONE ANOTHER; and so on.
I urge you to study the man’s character, self-denial, self-control, drive and ideas and I am sure you will become motivated when you realise that a “fortune” can still be made if you really put your mind to it.
In general, numismatic information for this work was drawn from notes on the series recorded by Ron Stewart over many years. His collection, at the time the most complete assembled, was comprised of specimens from all the principal known collections on their dispersal and included pieces from Alfred Chitty, Padre Bremmer, Padre Hayes, Roy Farman and Ray Jewell. As Ron was the major collector of Cole’s tokens, this handbook contains the only readily available condensed life story of E. W. Cole from a numismatist’s point of view since the first and only catalogue was published in 1924.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed piecing it together.
George D. Dean
His book then includes:
- A Brief History of E. W. Cole’s Early Life and his Book Arcade
- Distinctive Features
- E. W. Cole – The Man
- His Tokens and Medals
- Likely Sequence for Issue of Tokens/Medals
- Forming a Collection
- Summary: Presentation Pieces or samples from Rejected or Failed Dies
- Medallists and Die Sinkers
- Boxes of Wisdom
- An Introduction to the Catalogue
- Tokens that Circulated by Type
- Experimental pattern or Presentation Pieces, Curios and Medals by Type
- Catalogue of Tokens and Medals