ALASKA PREPPER TOKENS

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V24 2021 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 48, November 28, 2021, Article 30

Dick Hanscom edits the Alaskan Token Collector & Polar Numismatist, an excellent publication. The November/December 2021 issue includes a nice article about tokens Dick made for his friend Rudy, the "Alaska Prepper".

There are many views and definitions of the terms "survivalist" and "prepper". Both like to be prepared for unforeseen future events, learning useful skills and stocking up on all manner of foodstuffs and supplies. Extreme survivalists build bunkers and stock ammunition for the apocalypse, but also plan for evacuation and life on the move. Preppers are closer to the mainstream, planning to ride out difficulties in place (but with go-bags packed and ready just in case). My mother was the Depression-child version of a prepper before the word was invented, stockpiling dozens of cans of every favorite soup or side dish so as never to run out. I envy the experienced prepper - we've never been that organized. But I guess I'll have enough coin books to read if I don't break my glasses fighting off zombies.

Anyway, with permission we're republishing the complete article here. Many thanks to Dick for providing the text and images. -Editor

As you read in the April issue, Rudy, the Alaska Prepper, gifted me one ounce of silver. So, in return, I gifted him ten 1/10 oz. silver Alaska Prepper tokens. I created a monster! He liked them so much he ordered 100. And then 100 more.

Rudy asked if I could make a 1 oz. silver token. I did this for him. It is not my best work. Only 7 were minted.

Being the devious soul that I am, I thought I would yank Rudy's chain again. I had made a 1 DWT Alaska Gold die with a moose for future use. I had some spare 1 DWT gold blanks just lying around... So I paired this die with the Alaska Prepper snow flake die and made a gold token. The next time he came in the store, I casually tossed it on the counter. Cast the line, set the hook! I didn't expect to sell him many, but I did expect to sell the piece I tossed on the counter. Only 2 of these were pressed - one for him and one for me.

Rudy's YouTube channel has become very successful. He has over 100,000 subscribers. Being a prepper, he is always looking at long term storage foods. He has become affiliated with Nutrient Survival. Unlike most long term storage foods that are pretty much empty calories - and don't get me wrong, calories are king when you need food - Nutrient Survival foods are nutrient dense.

So Rudy convinced Nutrient survival that they needed to make up a special Alaska Prepper Pack. It included six #10 cans of their most popular products. A special discount was extended through Rudy. Plus, he convinced them that they needed to throw in a 1/10 oz. silver Alaska Prepper token with a special NS reverse. This special was limited to 100 special Alaska Prepper Packs, and each contained a 1/10 oz. silver token.

Rudy continues to work with Nutrient Survival. He liked the moose die so much, he had me make an Alaska Prepper die with the moose to replace the snowflake. And this die was used on the next Nutrient Survival Alaska Prepper offer.

In this special offer, Nutrient Survival was giving away 1 DWT Alaska gold tokens randomly to three of the first 100 purchasers.

In addition, Rudy ordered 100 of the AP Moose and NS 1/10 oz. silver tokens. This time, he will be sending them directly to the purchasers of the NS AP pack. But there was a problem. The first 100 special NP AP packs sold out in 2 hours. Rudy asked if I could make another 100, and have another 100 blanks in reserve.

On the first NS 1/10 oz., I noticed that the 1/10 was a bit weak. I decided to repunch the 1/10 and strengthen it. Only two were made with the weak 1/10 die. As I was melting and pouring silver on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, Rudy called and said, Dick, I need 200, not 100. And I will probably need another 100. He picked up the first 200 Tuesday after Labor day.

While the special NS AP special offer was supposed to be only 100 units, Rudy convinced them that they needed to extend it through the month of September. As the promotion has now ended, I made 354 tokens for Rudy.

And the good news is that the dies seem to be holding up well. The silver is thick (about 1.85mm) so it absorbs the pressing well without doing too much die deformation. I just have to flatten the ends occasionally (50-100 pressings).

Now I just have to get the Toyo stove hooked up in the workshop so I can keep doing this in the winter.