The first image below presents both the Sickle and the Harvest Moon!

It is interesting - and informative - to note that the Symbol adopted early in its history by the SOVIET UNION was the well-known HAMMER & SICKLE.  This of course represented both the Farmers and the Factory Workers and was an essential part of Soviet Propaganda.  These two aspects of Community Life are seen in the last first vignette for Pillsbury and that of General Foods directly below it.  With the Pillsbury Company the Central Figure - holding a sickle - is flanked by images of Farm and Factory.  With General Foods both the Hammer and the Sickle are used as Devices.  A very artful rendition of the same basic Symbols can be seen by clicking >HERE< and scrolling all the way down to the Montana-Dakota Utilities certificate, where the Sickle has been replaced by the C-shape of a Shepherd's Crook!

The very unusual Vignette from a Gold Bond issued by Providence Securities in 1907 combines the Symbol of the Fasces with those related to the Hammer & Sickle.  In this instance the Hammer is replaced by a Cogwheel - which is just as common as a symbol for Manufacturing - and the overall effect is indeed a striking Image of the awesome power of the State.  Click >HERE< to view that Certificate.

Of course these Symbols were very old before the Soviet Union was formed: they were merely taken on - "Consciously" - to evoke the SUBconscious.  The same is true of the Nazis' use of the Swastika: a Device used even thousands of years ago as a Symbol of "Life" or of the MOVING WHEEL.  Although they attributed it to the Aryans it is found depicted in Ancient Cultures around the world - including China and North America.  Strangely the implied motion in the case of Asia and the Americas is "counter-clockwise" - the opposite of that implied in the Indo-European Culture (from the British Isles to Northern India).  (***See NOTE below!)

Our choice of the EAGLE as our National Symbol was originally a matter of some debate: Benjamin Franklin suggested the WILD TURKEY, claiming that the Eagle was not only a predator but also usually a Thief, robbing Prey from his smaller fellows - as any Naturalist will attest.  He might also have noticed that the Eagle made us Symbolically related to the ROMAN EMPIRE.

Regarding the role Symbolism plays in our SUBCONSCIOUS, notice that the Artist has included a "sickle-shape" in the Gold Bond from Beech Creek Railroad: the upper half of a Wagon Wheel.  It seems only the Vignette of the Heizer Company is lacking an example of this Symbol . . . or is it??  And it's interesting to compare her to the much more primitive "Sower" below her.

I have recently added a few more at the bottom.  Notice that the one from a 1937 Canadian Banknote has her Farming Implements wrapped in the fashion of a FASCES.  You might want to see if you can identify any other Symbols in them.

PLEASE NOTE: The second image from the Cleveland Railroad is very famous but its origin remained fairly obscure until just recently.  It was called "The Reapers" but - again - that title also could not be verified.  A friend of mine from Australia just sent me what appears to be the Original - complete with title - taken from a drawing by G F C Smillie when he was about 18 years old.  It was part of the image inventory maintained by American Bank Note Company.