Hi Marty,

I don't know anything about such targets either...but, you might want to
check with the Holey Tokens & Coins Collectors Club...since some of them
surely have encountered these. ??
http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/Mall/2326/
Or send an email to:  [log in to unmask] 

Even tho, as I understood your description...I didn't think the 'target'
had a hole in it to begin with...only a circled area in the center.
Right?

I found this bit of info interesting:

This expression "bulls eye" derives from an old English sport,
bullbaiting dogs try to pull a bull by his nose to the ground. Gamblers
would place a bet "on the bull's eye" if he wished to make a bet.
Crowns, an English coin, were used to bet so frequently "on the bull's
eye that the coin itself came to be called a bull's-eye. Later, the term
was applied to the black center of a target. The idiom right on the
money is also derived from the ancient interchangeable use of a coin,
bull's-eye and the center of a target. 
http://sportsidioms.com/page/14.htm

You might check out this trapshooting site...and contact someone from
there.
http://huntingsociety.org/HistTrapshooting.html

Good luck.

Carol


>-----Original Message-----
>From: Marty Pickands [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
>Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 8:01 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Target token
>
>
>I recently excavated the site of a blacksmith shop that 
>operated from the early 19th century until 1904, where we 
>found a token that appears to be for target shooting. It is 
>about the size of a penny, made of brass or copper, and has a 
>.38 caliber bullet hole dead center. There is an embossed ring 
>somewhat larger than the hole with the word "shoot" visible 
>inside it. Inside the rim is a partial inscription 
>"...bo...attempt to shoot it down..." I assume this was 
>flipped into the air as a flying target, and if the shooter 
>could hit it inside the inner ring or circle, he or she would 
>win a prize. No writing is visible on the reverse, either 
>because of corrosion or because it is absent.
>
>Does anyone out there have any information about this type of 
>token? It does not seem to be mentioned on any of the token sites.
>
>Marty Pickands
>New York State Museum
>