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The Chip Board Archive 23

"Remember the Maine"? This chip does

This is an engraved antique chip, cataloged by Seymour as PT-EW and called "navy ship".

I can find only two US naval steamships that resemble it: the USS Maine and USS Texas. I think this chip was made to commemorate the USS Maine that exploded and sank in Havana harbor in 1898, 115 years ago this year.

Some history:

At the time, the press claimed that it was sunk by Spain who was fighting a war against Cuban independence at the time. Government investigations later sought to disclaim this and thought a fire in a coal bunker set off a powder magazine on the ship.

The Spanish-American war started shortly after, with Teddy Roosevelt running the Department of the Navy. He resigned, formed the Rough Riders, and fought in Cuba a couple of years later.

Here's a scan of the poker chip.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/USS_Maine_ACR-1_in_Havana_harbor_before_explosion_1898.jpg

This is a photo of the Maine from Wikipeda.

The chip engraver took some liberties with detail. What do you think?

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"Remember the Maine"? This chip does
Re: "Remember the Maine"? This chip does

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