Item HT 36549 Poster - Cole's Book Arcade, Token & Medal Die Combination Identifier, 1988

Summary

Alternative Name(s): Wall Chart

Poster identifying token and medal die combinations used in the production of promotional tokens and medals for the Coles Book Arcade. Compiled by George D. Dean, of Tarragindi, Queensland and published in conjunction with his 'A Handbook on E.W. Cole, His Book Arcade, Tokens & Medals', 1988.

George D. Dean, a numismatist and collector, issued his own copper vanity medal in 1984 in Tarragindi, Queensland, commemorating his collection of Coles Book Arcade tokens (NU 16643).

Cole's Book Arcade opened in the Bourke Street Mall in 1883, after earlier operating from other sites. It was a shop like no other, crammed with new and second-hand books and other wares, but with the atmosphere of a circus. Cole enticed customers of all ages with a menagerie and fernery, a band, a clockwork symphonion and other mechanical delights. Readers could sit in comfortable chairs, encouraged by a sign: 'Read for as Long as You Like - Nobody Asked to Buy'. The Arcade's proprietor, Edward William Cole, was optimist and idealist, believing passionately in the power of education and envisaged a world without borders, expounding his views in pamphlets and books. Cole died in 1918, still dreaming of a better future. Cole's Book Arcade, one of the wonders of 'marvellous Melbourne', closed in 1929.

Physical Description

Rectangular poster, printed in black on white on one side only. Features photographic images of 169 tokens and mdeals in rows, numbered (although not all numbers used) from 1 to 105. All are joined by lines to at least one other token or medal. Associated text appears on upper left and right of poster. Lined border with square blocks in corners.