United States: 1863 bronze patriotic Civil War token, "Our Little Monitor" type

lordmarcovan · Feb 1, 2026 at 3:32 PM

United States: 1863 bronze patriotic Civil War token, "Our Little Monitor" type

PCGS MS63 BN. Cert. #44769724.

Fuld-237/423a.

Ex-"charlelibb1", eBay, 20 February 2022. Purchased raw.

Quoting the NGC Coin Explorer page for the type:

"Patriotic Civil War Tokens were struck by private die sinkers and merchants in order to make up for the lack of circulating coinage during the war. These tokens were mostly issued in the Northeast and Midwest, and often feature pro-Union themes or slogans. This particular variety was struck in 1863 and has been designated F-237/423a by the declarative reference on this subject, Patriotic Civil War Tokens by George and Melvin Fuld. As designated by the "a" at the end of the Fuld number, this variety is struck in copper."

I think every collection of United States coins should include at least one Civil War token. This happens to be my favorite type. It portrays a USS Monitor-class warship of the era. I was interested in the Civil War ironclads as a child, and built at least one model kit of the Monitor. I previously owned an NGC MS65 BN example of this type. Though this current example is graded two points lower than the previous piece, I like it more. Despite the BN (Brown) designation, it has a lot of Red to it, and some nice pinkish toning.

031500

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l.cutler · Feb 1, 2026 at 4:18 PM

I really like the Monitor tokens. It's ironic though, by the time these were produced the Monitor was on the bottom of the ocean! There were other Monitor class ships built though, I think the final one sailed it's last around 1907.

The Meat man · Feb 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM

This is a cool token. I think I have one on my MA-Shops watch list.

BRandM · Feb 1, 2026 at 5:38 PM

The Civil War tokens are about historic as it gets. I also have a thing for them but I never had a Monitor.

Bruce

Mr.Q · Feb 2, 2026 at 4:05 PM

Geez, I told you so, you have everything. I am very very jealous. Next lifetime I plan to do something about it, so there!

johnmilton · Feb 2, 2026 at 4:40 PM

Here is a variety set of CWT Monitor tokens. There are more than these. I set these pieces aside over time when I was a dealer. The first Monitors I handled cost me about $10 30+ years ago.

Fuld 237/423

Fuld 238/402, an Indiana primative. H.D. Higgins made the obverse die by making a copy die from 237, the piece above.

Fuld 238/402, also an Indiana primative

Fuld 239

Fuld 240/337 The obverse dies for the next two varieties were very rusty.

Fuld 241/336

Fuld 257/311 There is a small Monitor behind the soldier

This is not listed as a Civil War token, but if you are into the Monitor, you will probably want this one.