Civil War Token

[silverhedgehog]

Found a Civil War token last night in a bank roll. Did a little research and between 1862 & 1864 there were over 7000 types made. They were made quite random on the heads and tails sides. I did a little Ebay searching and it took a while to match up a couple that has my head and tail on the same coin. Many others had only one side that matched. I am happy having a part of history for a penny. Best I could do on the pictures I used my digital microscope. I've looked at 160,000 hand sorting so far and only found one wild indian and this token so far as 1800's coins go.

Civil War Token Side 1 (2).jpg (17.26 KiB) Viewed 720 times

Civil War Token Side 2 (2).jpg (18.37 KiB) Viewed 720 times

[xpred558]

That is really neat!! What is something like that worth???

[silverhedgehog]

Worth maybe $5-$10 on eBay.

[Coppercrazy]

thats a stellar find even if its only 10 bucks.you got it for only one cent! nice!

[rexmerdinus]

I kinda collect CWT'S a little bit. Often the dies for reverse and obverse were mixed and matched, which is one reason there are so many combinations. Some have only a few examples known to exist. I'm at work right now, but I'll look in the collector book when I get home.

[AGCoinHunter]

Awesome find. Great peice of history.

[Common Cents]

Found one a few weeks ago. Mine is dated 1863, and it's in really nice shape. Came from a $25 box from the bank.

These are the types of finds that keep me motivated to sort!

[rexmerdinus]

Ok, Silverhedgehog, looks like that one would be catalogued as "Fuld 164/312," meaning the obverse is die 164 and the reverse is 312, according to PATRIOTIC CIVIL WAR TOKENS by George and Melvin Fuld, 1997 printing. The interesting thing, if I'm reading this correctly, is that particular die combination was minted in both copper and bronze planchets. It's hard to tell from the photo, but yours kinda looks like bronze. The copper one is R-1 rarity, meaning most common (more than 5000 known). The bronze version, on the other hand, is...wait for it...R-9, meaning only 2-4 examples were known at the time of printing. I should caveat that with the fact that a few new CWT die combinations are discovered each year, and some in sizeable hoards. Also, I'm not an expert, only a beginner at this particular part of exonumia, so I could be completely wrong in my reading of the book or my attribution of the dies. If you believe it is bronze instead of copper, however, I would seriously recommend sending it off to PCGS or NGC for professional attribution.

Nice find!

[silverhedgehog]

Thanks rexmeridinus for doing such great homework on my find. I'll have my coin dealer take a look at it to judge if it is bronze or copper.
I thought I was having a good day when I found a clipped penny the roll before finding the token. With another $20 left from that pick up
maybe something else will turn up.

[rexmerdinus]

No problen, glad to help!
Just to be clear, the word "union" us incused into the shield's surface, not raised, right? That would make a difference in the attribution

I love these things for their role in history. Interestingly, they came about partly for the same reasons many of us are on this forum--lack of confidence in the paper money system of the time drove people to hoard coins! The shortage of coins caused private individuals and companies to order mintages of their own design to serve as a means of exchange, especially among soldiers far from their homes. Sound familiar (liberty dollars, etc.)? There are three main types--Patriotic Tokens, which is what you have; Store Card tokens, which advertized businesses and often served as coupons or "wooden nickels" for free drinks or goods; and Sutlers' Tokens, which were issued by "camp follower" merchants that plied their trade among soldiers in the field. CWT's were used as a means of exchange in lieu of pennies...there were some made to mimic nickels as well, but those don't turn up very often these days!

Perhaps even more interestingly (to a geek like me!) is that this wasn't even the first time something like this happened. Hard Times Tokens came about in the depression of the 1820's and were about the same size as large cents, but with political slogans and cartoon-like images of Andrew Jackson.

Seems like about every hundred years or so there is a pretty bad depression, doesn't it? Coincidence? Doesn't matter what the Fed does--you can't artificially manipulate the economic cycle, and eventually you have to pay the piper.

Anyway, I'm done with the history lesson...and I have to go to work. Take care all!

[shinnosuke]

No problen, glad to help!
Just to be clear, the word "union" us incused into the shield's surface, not raised, right? That would make a difference in the attribution

I love these things for their role in history. Interestingly, they came about partly for the same reasons many of us are on this forum--lack of confidence in the paper money system of the time drove people to hoard coins! The shortage of coins caused private individuals and companies to order mintages of their own design to serve as a means of exchange, especially among soldiers far from their homes. Sound familiar (liberty dollars, etc.)? There are three main types--Patriotic Tokens, which is what you have; Store Card tokens, which advertized businesses and often served as coupons or "wooden nickels" for free drinks or goods; and Sutlers' Tokens, which were issued by "camp follower" merchants that plied their trade among soldiers in the field. CWT's were used as a means of exchange in lieu of pennies...there were some made to mimic nickels as well, but those don't turn up very often these days!

Perhaps even more interestingly (to a geek like me!) is that this wasn't even the first time something like this happened. Hard Times Tokens came about in the depression of the 1820's and were about the same size as large cents, but with political slogans and cartoon-like images of Andrew Jackson.

Seems like about every hundred years or so there is a pretty bad depression, doesn't it? Coincidence? Doesn't matter what the Fed does--you can't artificially manipulate the economic cycle, and eventually you have to pay the piper.

Anyway, I'm done with the history lesson...and I have to go to work. Take care all!

Great info and commentary. I wish you would work less and post more often.

[John_doe]

No problen, glad to help!
Just to be clear, the word "union" us incused into the shield's surface, not raised, right? That would make a difference in the attribution

I love these things for their role in history. Interestingly, they came about partly for the same reasons many of us are on this forum--lack of confidence in the paper money system of the time drove people to hoard coins! The shortage of coins caused private individuals and companies to order mintages of their own design to serve as a means of exchange, especially among soldiers far from their homes. Sound familiar (liberty dollars, etc.)? There are three main types--Patriotic Tokens, which is what you have; Store Card tokens, which advertized businesses and often served as coupons or "wooden nickels" for free drinks or goods; and Sutlers' Tokens, which were issued by "cam follower" merchants that plied their trade among soldiers in the field. CWT's were used as a means of exchange in lieu of pennies...there were some made to mimic nickels as well, but those don't turn up very often these days!

Perhaps even more interestingly (to a geek like me!) is that this wasn't even the first time something like this happened. Hard Times Tokens came about in the depression of the 1820's and were about the same size as large cents, but with political slogans and cartoon-like images of Andrew Jackson.

Seems like about every hundred years or so there is a pretty bad depression, doesn't it? Coincidence? Doesn't matter what the Fed does--you can't artificially manipulate the economic cycle, and eventually you have to pay the piper.

Anyway, I'm done with the history lesson...and I have to go to work. Take care all!

Great info and commentary. I wish you would work less and post more often.

indeed. Interesting stuff. Seems as though we are overdue for our depression, but let's hope it skips this 100 years!