In 2005 I decided that what the Captain John O'Rourke House needed a party its 125
th birthday celebration. The party, which took place in 2006 celebrated the groundbreaking in June of 1881 when construction on the home began. For the party to be big it needed to have many things. There would be
descendants of the original owners on hand, a Civil War reenacting band, guided home tours, local politicians making
speeches, yard games, cake and much more.
As I worked on the event I felt that even with all of the items that were planned something was missing. As I thought on this the idea of
souvenirs came to me. Why not create something that would last long beyond the event? Why not give away tokens of
remembrance to those who attended? It was a good idea and work began on creating just the right things to give away.
For those who worked the event the
souvenirs included reproduction Civil War Kepi's purchased through A&M Surplus. These served two purposes, first they reminded people of the Captain's service in the Union Army. Second they easily identified the volunteers to the visitors to the event and allowed anyone in need of assistance to spot help in an instance.
Next I created a simplified version of the token above and had wooden nickles made up with the images seen above. These were given out to every one of the more than 500 people who attended the event. As wooden nickles are not expensive to make up there was a large surplus after the event and these were given out as
souvenirs to the Boy Scouts at the 2007 Jamboree event held at
Mahone State Park in Nebraska.
The highlight of the
souvenirs for that day had to be without a doubt the token that is shown in the images above. An expensive item to have created the idea here was to create something that would last a lifetime and possibly beyond. In a real sense this particular
souvenir may actually last longer than the O'Rourke House itself.
Now, before we discuss how it was created it is important to note that the name on the token is the
Dugan-O'Rourke House. This is the name that the home carries and is known by in
Plattsmouth. The official name on the National Register of Historic Places is the Capt. John O'Rourke House. The
Dugan-O'Rourke House name is listed as a secondary name on the same form.
OK, now that the name thing is settled lets look at the token. After shopping for a company that could create a high quality medallion for this project I settled on The Highland Mint located in Melbourne, FL. I worked with several of their employees on the project and found them to be highly professional and always helpful. I would highly recommend this company to anyone in search of a company to to this kind of work.
To start with the Highland Mint asked that I send them draft images of what I was looking for in a medallion. In response I sent them, after many hours of negotiations with my wife, what I thought would be a good representation of what I wanted. My artwork to say the least was childish. I am not an artist and worried that the tokens would reflect this.
What I got back from Highland Mint is what you see in the first two images above. Cleaned up the artwork clearly reflected what I wanted. The people at Highland suggested the stars separating the words and adding the black band of separation between the house and the words.
The image of the house itself is lifted from the book Andrea's History of Nebraska from 1882. As such it is the earliest known image of the newly completed house. I insisted that the image contain enough of the front yard so that the Captain can be seen in the lower right hand side of the image. Not a problem I was told and as you can see he is right there where he should be. The date of 1882 reflects date of completion of the home. Liking what I saw I signed off on the artwork.
The reverse side of the token holds a special meaning on several levels. The first of the two crossed four leaf clovers reflect the fact that the original owners were Irish. Irish born immigrants who chose to live in Nebraska. The second clover represents my personal Irish heritage as I myself am the
descendant of Irish
immigrants. Immigrants who chose to call Nebraska home even prior to the state
becoming a state.
The Irish blessing "May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow and may trouble avoid you wherever you go" was included and is self explanatory as to what we want for you.
The line "Celebrating the Past, Present and Future" was included for the party and shows our pride in the home's past and our hope for its future. The name of the home was included on both sides of the token so that there can be no doubt from which it came. Finally the dates 1882 -2007 were included in Roman Numerals to
reflect the 125
th anniversary of the homes completion in 1882. Originally planned as just normal numbers Roman Numerals were
chosen to "class up" the token.
How many were made? Originally 500 of these were made in Antique Bronze. The size is 39MM. There were also 30 tokens made in Sterling Silver. Each of the tokens was
encapsulated in a plastic capsule to keep them from damage or tarnish.
These tokens were given out to dignitaries, band members,
descendants and volunteers. In addition each adult visiting the home on the day of the event was given a token to keep as a
remembrance. Since the party the remaining supply of tokens was given away to those who visited the home over the past two years.
The two "die" that were created for the tokens was tuned over to me at the end of the project as was the 3-d large engraving used to make the
dies from. In the photo above you can see this engraving as it is the blue token shown above. The
dies are the same size as the tokens the 3-d engraving is about 14 inches across in size.
Some would ask what it cost to produce these tokens. I will
withhold that information as it is not relative to what it would cost to do the project again today. If you are really interested in what it would cost please access the Highland Mint's website for details.
Will I do another token for the house? I would like to do so with the next token featuring the actual image of the Captain.
Possibly this will be done for the 130
th anniversary of the home.
Thanks for reading.
Posts
In 2005 I decided that what the Captain John O'Rourke House needed a party its 125th birthday celebration. The party, which took place in 2006 celebrated the groundbreaking in June of 1881 when construction on the home began. For the party to be big it needed to have many things. There would be descendants of the original owners on hand, a Civil War reenacting band, guided home tours, local politicians making speeches, yard games, cake and much more.
As I worked on the event I felt that even with all of the items that were planned something was missing. As I thought on this the idea of souvenirs came to me. Why not create something that would last long beyond the event? Why not give away tokens of remembrance to those who attended? It was a good idea and work began on creating just the right things to give away.
For those who worked the event the souvenirs included reproduction Civil War Kepi's purchased through A&M Surplus. These served two purposes, first they reminded people of the Captain's service in the Union Army. Second they easily identified the volunteers to the visitors to the event and allowed anyone in need of assistance to spot help in an instance.
Next I created a simplified version of the token above and had wooden nickles made up with the images seen above. These were given out to every one of the more than 500 people who attended the event. As wooden nickles are not expensive to make up there was a large surplus after the event and these were given out as souvenirs to the Boy Scouts at the 2007 Jamboree event held at Mahone State Park in Nebraska.
The highlight of the souvenirs for that day had to be without a doubt the token that is shown in the images above. An expensive item to have created the idea here was to create something that would last a lifetime and possibly beyond. In a real sense this particular souvenir may actually last longer than the O'Rourke House itself.
Now, before we discuss how it was created it is important to note that the name on the token is the Dugan-O'Rourke House. This is the name that the home carries and is known by in Plattsmouth. The official name on the National Register of Historic Places is the Capt. John O'Rourke House. The Dugan-O'Rourke House name is listed as a secondary name on the same form.
OK, now that the name thing is settled lets look at the token. After shopping for a company that could create a high quality medallion for this project I settled on The Highland Mint located in Melbourne, FL. I worked with several of their employees on the project and found them to be highly professional and always helpful. I would highly recommend this company to anyone in search of a company to to this kind of work.
To start with the Highland Mint asked that I send them draft images of what I was looking for in a medallion. In response I sent them, after many hours of negotiations with my wife, what I thought would be a good representation of what I wanted. My artwork to say the least was childish. I am not an artist and worried that the tokens would reflect this.
What I got back from Highland Mint is what you see in the first two images above. Cleaned up the artwork clearly reflected what I wanted. The people at Highland suggested the stars separating the words and adding the black band of separation between the house and the words.
The image of the house itself is lifted from the book Andrea's History of Nebraska from 1882. As such it is the earliest known image of the newly completed house. I insisted that the image contain enough of the front yard so that the Captain can be seen in the lower right hand side of the image. Not a problem I was told and as you can see he is right there where he should be. The date of 1882 reflects date of completion of the home. Liking what I saw I signed off on the artwork.
The reverse side of the token holds a special meaning on several levels. The first of the two crossed four leaf clovers reflect the fact that the original owners were Irish. Irish born immigrants who chose to live in Nebraska. The second clover represents my personal Irish heritage as I myself am the descendant of Irish immigrants. Immigrants who chose to call Nebraska home even prior to the state becoming a state.
The Irish blessing "May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow and may trouble avoid you wherever you go" was included and is self explanatory as to what we want for you.
The line "Celebrating the Past, Present and Future" was included for the party and shows our pride in the home's past and our hope for its future. The name of the home was included on both sides of the token so that there can be no doubt from which it came. Finally the dates 1882 -2007 were included in Roman Numerals to reflect the 125th anniversary of the homes completion in 1882. Originally planned as just normal numbers Roman Numerals were chosen to "class up" the token.
How many were made? Originally 500 of these were made in Antique Bronze. The size is 39MM. There were also 30 tokens made in Sterling Silver. Each of the tokens was encapsulated in a plastic capsule to keep them from damage or tarnish.
These tokens were given out to dignitaries, band members, descendants and volunteers. In addition each adult visiting the home on the day of the event was given a token to keep as a remembrance. Since the party the remaining supply of tokens was given away to those who visited the home over the past two years.
The two "die" that were created for the tokens was tuned over to me at the end of the project as was the 3-d large engraving used to make the dies from. In the photo above you can see this engraving as it is the blue token shown above. The dies are the same size as the tokens the 3-d engraving is about 14 inches across in size.
Some would ask what it cost to produce these tokens. I will withhold that information as it is not relative to what it would cost to do the project again today. If you are really interested in what it would cost please access the Highland Mint's website for details.
Will I do another token for the house? I would like to do so with the next token featuring the actual image of the Captain. Possibly this will be done for the 130th anniversary of the home.
Thanks for reading.
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