PPB December 2019

Osbo rne Co i nage Co . PPB spoke with Olpp to learn more details behind Osborne Coinage’s rich history. Tell us about the history of Osborne Coinage Co. and how the company got its start. As America’s oldest private mint, Osborne Coinage traces its roots back to 1835 when Andrew Jackson was our president and there was no such thing as a legal tender banknote. Indeed, there was no federally-backed paper money until 1862. During that period, there was a critical lack of coinage as what the government minted from 1836 to 1846 consisted entirely of proof coins for collectors. The lack of faith in privately-issued paper banknotes created an opportunity for the production of more secure metal coins. The Cincinnati-based company that would become Osborne Coinage started producing gold and brass coins early on, adding lightweight andmodern aluminum to its catalog in 1892. What do you think makes Osborne Coinage’s coins timeless for recipients? Coins were originally produced in seventh century B.C. and have been captivating collectors ever since. The coins we manufacture look like money, so they’re seldom thrown away. Some people believe there’s no place for something as low tech or old fashioned as coins in our 24/7 wired world. We believe that when everything is in the cloud, having something to hold in your hands is just satisfying on a basic level. Coins are tangible; you can touch them, smell them and even taste them, if you’d like, because our coins are 100-percent lead- free. Finding a coin is like a snapshot in time or opening up a time capsule and being surprised at what people were celebrating, commemorating or mentioning. What are some other ways, throughout history, that Osborne Coinage coins have been used? In the early 1900s, coal mines and lumber mills came to Osborne Coinage to purchase scrip, which was a formof currency used to pay employees that was accepted at company stores. Known as ORCO Scrip, the counterfeit- resistant coins were specific to a certain coal mine or mill and did not have value anywhere else. Since 1990, Osborne has supplied about 14 million train, trolley and bus tokens to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, along withmore than 100 million transit tokens for New York City’s public transportation system. More than 17 million promotional coins were distributed in General Mills cereal boxes to promote the 1996 Olympic Games, and we’ve created collectible coins for Star Wars action figures. What are some of the more recent projects, programs, commemoratives and campaigns that Osborne Coinage has been involved in? We commemorated the 50th anniversary of the moon landing in July with 500 limited-edition fine silver coins for the Armstrong Space Museum. These coins were packaged in a blue, velour case with the 50th anniversary logo printed on the lid’s interior. We’ve created challenge coins for veterans to receive through Honor Flight, a nonprofit that flies veterans toWashington, D.C. to visit the memorials at no cost. After the completion of the $143-million-dollar renovation of the Cincinnati Music Hall, a national historic landmark, amulti-tiered, coin- based programwas used to acknowledge donors, patrons and visitors. High-end donors received fine silver coins in walnut boxes, opening-night attendees receivedmemento cards with affixed coins, lower- tier donors received golden brass coins in blue velour boxes with an imprinted puff showing the sponsor, and attendees received colored point-of-purchase coins. For another unique campaign, we created a series of colored coins tomark the different voyages taken by Jefferson’s OceanWhiskey. Jefferson’s puts individual casks of whiskey on ships and sails them around the world to age. The motion of the ship and the path it takes influence the taste of the whiskey. The coins commemorate and notate the voyage number. “Finding a coin is like a snapshot in time or opening up a time capsule and being surprised at what people were celebrating, commemorating or mentioning.” —Gibson Olpp, marketing manager 130 | DECEMBER 2019 | CONNECT