SMS Emden was still flying her battle flag when the Sydney re- turned and it took two more salvos from the Sydney before Captain M~ller struck his colors. The Emden died with 141 of her crew. Captain M@ller and the survivors were interned, but yon M@cke and his men evaded capture and eventually made it back to Germany.

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OBVERSE

REVERSE

THE SOUVENIR COIN MEDAL

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Salvaged from the wreck of the Emden were 6429 so-called "Mexican dollars," or more correctly eight reales coins. These coins were struck from 1824 to 1897 at fourteen different Mexican mints. Eventually, like the Maria Theresa taler in the Middle East, these coins became the coin of choice in the Orient. Most of these coins which circulated in the Orient were chopmarked by merchants and money changers. Chopmarks are the small symbols or recognition marks which were counterstamped on the coins once the merchant or money changer decided that the coin was good. Most, if not all, of the coins salvaged from the Emden were chopmarked, which would indicate that the coins were acquired in the Orient for use in places where the Emden had not established credit.

In 1918 the Australian Navy had one thousand of the coins mounted with suspensions to commemorate the Sydney’s victory and presented them to the 376 Sydney crewmen, plus various officials and institu- tions. The suspension design features a British crown dividing the date, "NOV. 9 .... 1914" which in turn is above "HMAS. SYDNEY. SMS. EMDEN." The back of the suspension is blank except for the manu- facturer’s identification "W. KERR / SYDNEY."

The coin used in the piece illustrating this article is an eight reales piece struck at the Potosi mint in 1868 and has a large chopmark above the eagle’s tailfeathers.

References: Emden, by Kapit~nleutnant Hellmuth yon MOcke.

Warship9 and Sea Battles of World War I, Beekman House. "Australian Coin Review," July 1977; February 1983.

IN THE NEWS

M~DAL BESTOWED ON DETECTIVE

Holyoke - Lt. Stephen F. Donoghue, the second in command in the Detective Bureau, has received the Massachusetts Police Associa- tion’s Award of Valor, for his action in shooting a knife-wielding housebreaker at the University Park Apartments on Feb. 7.

The award was made Thursday at the association’s convention in Hyannis.

On Feb. 7 in the early afternoon, Donoghue received a report of a possible housebreak in progress at the apartments which are off Easthampton Road.

He entered the apartment and saw a masked suspect and ordered him to freeze.

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