Glenrock couple unearths mystery Cheyenne Frontier Days coin along riverbank

GLENROCK — Breanna Slaton has an extensive bucket list for her Wyoming rockhounding adventures. Jade is on that list, and so are selenites. But the coolest find in her growing collection was never on her bucket list at all. It’s a mystery coin advertising Cheyenne Frontier Days that she and her husband, Jonathan, found lying along the North Platte River during an unexpectedly warm February day.

February isn’t typically great for rockhounding. But this February was warm and blustery, spiking a serious case of spring fever. The couple decided the only way to seize the day was by getting outside. Breanna is the kind of person who is always looking down at the ground everywhere she goes, but it was her husband who spotted this find. “He’s like, ‘What is that on the ground?'” she recalled. “I bent down and was like, ‘Oh it’s a coin!'”

At first, Breanna thought the grimy coin was a quarter. But after cleaning it, she saw the words “Cheyenne Frontier Days” floating over a riderless bucking horse. On the reverse side were the words “Frontier Bucks” over the top, with “$1” in the center and “No Cash Value” along the bottom. She turned to Google and Facebook for information about the coin’s history.

Cheyenne Frontier Days CEO Tom Hirsig believes it’s a saloon coin used at the adult headquarters where they had a dance hall. “They used them as, like, beer chips,” he said. Shirley Churchill, a past Miss Cheyenne Frontier Days, recalled her aunt speaking of an open-air pavilion where dances were held. “Seems I recall you had to have a ticket or a token to dance,” she said. Regardless of its true history, the coin has become a priceless treasure to Breanna. “I’ll never sell it,” she said.