Civil War Tokens: Yankee Robinson

Guess we both did . He's a good man as he knows his Civil War Tokens . He's one of the people that got me interested in them .

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Alright thats good. Hope he can help

 

When Robinson died in 1884 the New York Clipper (September 13, 1884) published an obituary and picture of Robinson. The article noted that in 1866 he closed his traveling show in Chicago and built Yankee Robinson's Coliseum and Zoological Garden at State and Washington Streets. This may be why some of his tokens were given Illinois designations.

Bruce

 

Just got home and replied to your message silverdrachm.

The Fuld book lists the 165EZ12a as showing the EZ-3 design with the short hand dividing the date of 1863, however the book also shows the 12-a as having the die 1046 reverse, which is one of the many Indian Head designs.

Looking up this token in the Fuld book I believe it to be the OH 165EZ-3a variety. The obverse was used for the EZ style tokens number 1 to 14. The reverse has a shorter hand that divides the 1863 date than the 1 and 2 varieties. The edge of the piece should be reeded. Fuld shows it as a Rarity 2 in copper.

Different books can show different rarities for the same piece based on the author's experience/data and the date of publication. Today at a coin show a knowledgeable CWT dealer noted that the Token Society experts working on the 3'd Edition of the Fuld book expect to be able to go to press at year end.

 

Okay that helps. I still dont know which one to believe though. Its confusing thats its classified as different thing in different places.

 

Thanks Bill , that's what I was thinking too but wasn't sure . Ohio 165EZ-3a it is . The part I wasn't sure of is right above that where they say the obverse is incused . I couldn't tell if they meant the 165EZ 2M or the 165EZ-3a , but I can see how it starts on the same line . Nice token , heck some of my nicest are R-1 to R-4 s .

 

I admit Bowers Redbook confuses things , but if you have the Store Card book by Fuld it's less confusing . Yours does have a reeded edge though , correct ?

 

I dont want to bother PennyGuy more than I have to so Ive decided to write in here for help. I have this coin:


I believe it is a NY-940-A-2a. Does anyone know the rarity? And maybe even what year its from exactly? I think its from 1861 but I could be wrong. In the Bowers book it only shows the rarity for NY-940-A-1a

 

A 2a has the "B" in Book opposite the "A" of Waterloo which yours seems to have SD. Fuld says it's an R-5. Nice CWT!

Bruce

 

Okay thanks I wasnt sure. Do you know the date?

 

Sorry, I don't. The CWts only circulated during the war though, so that narrows it down to only a few years. I don't think there's any way to tell unless it has an actual date on it.

Bruce

 

True. Ill just write down on the 2x2 "1861-1865. Okay thanks for the help!

 

Just as important it has the 1367 reverse , nice R-5 .

 

Another nice store card silverreachm. There are quite a few CWT's without dates. The letters ND are usually substituted for the date in descriptions.

 

Thanks for the extra info!

 

I collect the Yankee Robinson tokens and helped with some of the research when experts were trying to pin down his home area and circus winter quarters.

Researchers were particularly interested in his location during the Civil War years so they could assign him to the correct location, since that would determine the correct attribution of his tokens in a Civil War listing. Many of the tokens he created were abundant during this period. Q David Bowers enjoyed a specialized collection and study of Yankee Robinson tokens.

Many of the scans/photos in my files are not my own, but I do have some good ones from my collection which I can post, and I can certainly help with identification.

I'm new to this forum, are there rules I need to know about posting photos?

-Dunc

 

@Duncan Doenitz , Welcome to Coin Talk.

As for posting photos, the only things that will get you in trouble is porn and pictures with political hatred. Stuff like that.

Post your pictures away. I'd like to see your collection.

 

Okay - one of the interesting ones is OH 165EZ-2m, here's the obverse...


And the reverse, note that it is incused and of course in reverse...


Listed as tin, but clearly a plated copper token. Also not mentioned is that it comes in at least three varieties, dated 1868, 1869 (like this one) and 1870.

 

This one's for Bruce...


Not nearly as nice as yours, in fact it's a mess, but a cheap eBay purchase.

For identification, it's the last item on the list posted earlier, NC-20f but also listed as OH Ci 180.

Incidentally quite a few online sellers continue to use the old numbers for these, and I do the same, and haven't bothered to cross-reference them yet.

-Dunc

 

Okay, one confusing thing to realize with the Yankee Robinson tokens... a design is sometimes considered the obverse and sometimes the same die is the reverse. The Indian Head designs with their sometimes subtle differences are listed as reverse designs, paired with the triad designs, obverse when paired with the Indian Heads and reverse when paired with images of Robinson.

Here's the obverse of OH 165EZ-10a...


And the reverse, known as die #1034...


The little clip in the planchet is a nice bonus, not very common on the Yankee Robinson tokens, which are of pretty good quality, often even including a reeded edge.

-Dunc

EDIT: I should add, the triad designs are described as "hand pointing left" or "hand pointing right", but the finger always points down. I think of them as "knuckles left" or "knuckles right".