Trivia - Civil WQar Tokens

Clinker · 01-21-2007, 04:46 PM

Since the United States came into being many different categories of tokens have been minted. i.e. Colonial, Hard times, Civil War, Transportation, Gaming (gambling), Love. Arcade, Hacienda and State Tax Tokens. This trivia article is about Civil War Tokens. There may be upcoming articles on the others.

Civil War Tokens are privately minted tokens made from 1862 through 1864 because of the scarcity of governmrnt-issued one cent coins.

Cival War Tokens are divided into three types: store cards, patriotic tokens, and Sutler tokens. All three types were utilized as currency, and are differentiated by their designs. The collectible value of tokens is determined chiefly by their rarity, but, also, their composition: bronze, copper, nickel. brass, silver, rubber and wood.

Patriotic tokens

Patriotic Civil War tokens typically displayed a patriotic slogan or image on one or both sides. Since the majority of these tokens were minted in Union states, the slogans and images were decidedly pro-Union. Some common examples of slogans found on patriotic tokens are "The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved," "Union For Ever," and "Old Glory". Some of the images found on patriotic tokens were the flag of the United States, a 19th-century cannon, and the USS Monitor.

Among the most well-known varieties of patriotic tokens are the so-called "Dix tokens." They are named for John Adams Dix, who served as Secretary of the Treasury in 1861. In a letter from Dix to a revenue cutter captain, Lieutenant Caldwell, he orders Caldwell to relieve another cutter captain of his command for refusing an order to transfer from New Orleans to New York. The letter ends with the following sentence: "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot."" The quote found its way to a number of patriotic tokens, albeit with a slightly modified wording ("haul down" is usually replaced by "tear it down").
Here's an example of a Dix token:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image

ix_token.jpg

Store cards

Civil War store cards differ from patriotic tokens in that one or both sides displays the name and/or location of a privately owned business. Businesses that could afford it had two custom dies made, with both advertising the business. Otherwise, only one side displayed the business's information.
Here's a store card example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C...tore_token.jpg

Here's more: http://www.lotn.org/~calkinsc/coins/000310.html

Sutler tokens

Sutler tokens are similar to store cards. Rather than listing the name of a private business, however, these tokens bore the name of a particular army unit (usually a regiment) and the name of the sutler who conducted transactions with the regiment. Of the three types of Civil War tokens, sutler tokens are by far the rarest.
Clinker

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