Shell's Famous Facts & Faces

Famous Facts & Faces

Above: Typical Aluminum Game Coin, 26mm diameter, Plain Edge.

SHELL'S FAMOUS FACTS & FACES COIN GAME was a promotional game issued by the Shell Oil Company in 1968, then re-released with changes in 1969. This was a collect-and-win game with instant winners. With each visit to a participating Shell station, customers received a free aluminum game 'coin' showing either a portrait of a famous American, or a historical 'fact' associated with that person. Twenty-four different obverse designs were issued in Shell's Famous Facts & Faces Game. A game card was given free for players to collect and save their game coins. If a player could collect any pair of coins - the person and his associated fact - the player won the prize indicated on the game card. Some coins are INSTANT WINNERS.

In the first version, prizes included cash in the amounts of $1, $5, $50, $100, $500 and $2,500. Players could also win a beautiful 36-piece set of bronze presidential medals which came with a mounting board and an informative booklet about the presidents. Also in the first version, a bronze 12-piece set of Great Americans medals was offered as a prize.

In the second version, the top cash prize was increased from $2,500 to $5,000. The bronze presidential 36-piece medal set was still offered but the bronze 12-piece set was discontinued. The aluminum game coins were the same in both the first and second versions.

If a game coin had SHELL'S INSTANT WINNER on the back, a prize was won without having to collect any other coins. The instant winner prizes were listed on the game card.

The Franklin Mint produced the game pieces, game prizes, and all the associated promotional materials.

Above: 'The Telephone' INSTANT WINNER game coin. This coin
could have been redeemed for the $1.00 cash prize.

Above: 'Lincoln's Log Cabin' INSTANT WINNER game coin. This coin
could have been redeemed for the bronze, 36-piece presidential medal set.

How to Win a Prize

There were three ways to win a prize in Shell's Famous Facts and Faces game. First, you could collect two matching coins according to the prize table below. Second, you could receive an INSTANT WINNER coin (two are shown above). Thirdly, you could collect any twelve game coins and trade them in for a prize (this prize method was discontinued in the second version).

Prize	Famous Face	Matching Fact Coin
$2500 or $5000	Thomas A. Edison	The Electric Light Bulb (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
$500	Mark Twain (This is the key, prize-winning coin)	Mark Twain's Mississippi Riverboat
$100	Booker T. Washington	Tuskegee Institute (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
$50	Richard Byrd (This is the key, prize-winning coin)	Admiral Byrd's Flight Over The South Pole
$50	John Paul Jones	John Paul Jones' Flagship (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
$5	Francis Scott Key (This is the key, prize-winning coin)	The Star Spangled Banner
$5	Paul Revere	Paul Revere's Midnight Ride (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
$1	Benjamin Franklin	Franklin Discovering Electricity In Lightning (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
$1	Albert Einstein	Einstein's Key To Atomic Energy (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
$1	Alexander Graham Bell	The Telephone (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
36-Piece Bronze Presidents Set	George Washington	Washington Crossing The Delaware (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
36-Piece Bronze Presidents Set	Abraham Lincoln	Lincoln's Log Cabin (This is the key, prize-winning coin)
12-Piece 'Great Americans' Set	(Redeem any 12 game coins, first version only)

The First Version

Above: Game coin packaging in the first
version was plastic-lined paper packets
that measured 1 5/8" by 1 3/4."

Shell Oil released two versions of the Famous Facts & Faces coin game. The first version was test-marketed in 1968 in Arizona. Since the distribution area was small, game materials from the first version are seldom seen.

Apparently Shell Oil was not happy with this version because major changes were made to the game before the wide-scale release of the second version in 1969.

Major features of the first version that changed in the second version are:

The top prize was $2,500 cash. This was increased to $5,000 in the second version.
The game coins were packaged in plastic-lined paper packets with green print. Plastic capsules were used in the second version.
The game cards have green print and spots to accumulate twelve extra game coins. In the second version, the game cards were completely redesigned and the spots to hold extra coins were eliminated.
Players could accumulate any twelve aluminum game coins and trade them in for a prize. With this feature, Shell could state that "Everybody Can Win!" The prize was a bronze 12-piece set of 'Great Americans' medals that have the same designs as the regular game coins. The medals are 20mm in diameter and came mounted on a cardboard display board. This set is called "Great Americans - Series 1 - Collector's Edition" and has a copyright date of 1968 on the display board. The Franklin Mint produced 23,590 of these bronze sets, but this prize was completely discontinued in the second version.

Above: Front and back of the game card issued in the first version. This card is populated with the twelve common (non-winning) coins, plus twelve additional coins that could have been redeemed for the bronze, 12-piece medal set shown below.

Above: Front and back of the bronze, 12-piece medal set, with the medals mounted on the cardboard display board. The Franklin Mint produced 23,590 of these sets. The medals are 20mm in diameter. This set was only available as a prize in the first version of the game.

Above: The envelope that contained the bronze, 12-piece medal set.

The Second Version

The second version of Famous Facts & Faces was released in 1969 in many regions across the United States. There are several versions of the game cards but the rules and function did not change. The top prize was $5,000 cash.

The aluminum game coins (for both the first version and the second version) were struck with soft aluminum planchets, 26mm in diameter, with a plain edge. There are twenty-four regular game coins. Six of these were minted with both the common reverse design and also the INSTANT WINNER reverse design. Therefore, thirty different aluminum game coins were issued.

In the second version, the game coins were packaged in white plastic capsules with a black top. The capsules were designed so that the coin could be pushed through the top to be removed.

Above: Game coin packaging in the second version was white plastic capsules with a black top.

Above: Front of common game card issued in the second version, showing the twenty-four basic obverse coin designs and rules. The cards are 12 1/8" tall by 8 5/8" wide. There were two or three variations of the game cards which show different text in the rules section (the rules did not change, just the text).

Above: Variation of game card issued in the second version.

Above: Back of common game card issued in the second version.

Above: This is the bronze, 36-piece presidential medal set, which was a prize in both the first and second version of the game. The set came in a large white envelope and contained the medal set, a cardboard mounting board, an informational pamphlet on the presidents, and a registration card. These sets are the same as the prize offered in Shell's 'Mr. President Coin Game' which ran concurrently with the 'Famous Facts & Faces' game. You can learn more about this prize by clicking here.

Varieties of Game Coins

The Franklin Mint struck the aluminum game 'coins' (more accurately, 'medallions'). Multiple dies were produced for each coin design and the dies were not always prepared identically. Sometimes the obverse lettering is shifted slightly in relation to the portrait. Sometimes the copyright date and Franklin Mint hallmark is shifted slightly. This resulted in two or more varieties for most of the coins. The design changes are subtle in most cases.

Above: Two varieties of the 'Alexander Graham Bell' medallion.

There are two notable errors in this coin series. First, on the game coin featuring 'Admiral Byrd's Flight Over The South Pole,' the designer's initials 'PRN' appear on the obverse of some coins and not others. The omission of the initials is an error.

Left: 'Admiral Byrd's Flight Over The South Pole' game coin with designer's initials omitted in error. Right: New dies were prepared with "PRN" added.

Second, on the game coin featuring Alexander Graham Bell, a doubled die obverse variety exists. A die received two impressions of the portrait ... slightly rotated from each other ... which shows clearly on coins struck with that die.

Left: Normal Alexander Graham Bell game coin. Right: Doubled die error.

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