An Introduction to Civil War Token Die Maker, John Marr

John Marr (1831-1921) was an engraver and die sinker who produced Civil War tokens (CWTs) almost exclusively for Wisconsin businesses. He engraved nearly all the dies for the Milwaukee merchant Civil War tokens and over half the dies for the other Wisconsin CWTs. The highlights of his Civil War era work were an unusually attractive group of pieces that he made for his Milwaukee customers. These tokens featured some of the finest commercial art in the Civil War token series.

John Marr was born on November 6, 1831 in Thuringia, Germany. In 1851 he emigrated to the United States and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. There he met and married Bertha Bodenstein in 1855.

Marr and his bride moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin during their honeymoon. There he went into business with H. Bodenstein who was probably an in-law. That partnership soon dissolved and Marr formed another business with Peter L. Mossin who was a well-known engraver in the Milwaukee area. In their initial newspaper advertisement, Mossin & Marr (M&M) stated that they were, “general engravers in metals and wood,” and that they produced, “all kinds of official seals, stencils & brands & c.” One of Marr’s most important early assignments was to execute the first engraving of the Wisconsin state seal.

Soon after the beginning of the Civil War, the public withdrew and hoarded almost all of the regular United States coinage from circulation. This created a severe shortage of circulating coinage at a time when the economy was booming because of the war. To fill the gap, merchants tried postage stamps, postage stamps in small envelopes with denominations printed on them, postage stamps encased in brass frames, and private script. Some local governments circulated their own currency, and the Union government issued Postage and Fractional currency. None of these substitutes were satisfactory.

Gradually a growing number of merchants began to circulate tokens that were accepted in place of the official coinage. Some pieces were issued without the name of a specific business on them. Today collectors call these pieces the Patriotic Civil War tokens. A greater number of tokens were issued with the name of a specific merchant. These pieces are called the Civil War Store cards.

In most cases Civil War merchants ordered a custom made die for the obverse. The inscriptions on this die usually included the merchant’s name, the nature of his business and sometimes his address. The reverse was usually a stock die that CWT maker used with other merchant store cards. The merchant side of the token was often rather plain while the stock die was usually more elaborate.

Mossin & Marr produced their first Civil War store cards in 1863, which was the peak year for Civil War token production. Most Mossin & Marr customers followed the standard pattern by ordering a simple die for the obverse and a stock die for the reverse. A few merchants, especially in the Milwaukee area, ordered more elaborate designs. These pieces were struck with custom dies on both sides, and in many cases, the tokens featured one or two illustrations.

Most collectors believe that John Marr produced all the Civil War token dies for the Mossin & Marr firm. His work was almost always excellent with wide upset rims, crisp lettering and bold, imaginative illustrations. Because of a marked difference in style, your author believes that Peter Mossin may have produced one set of CWT dies for the M&M firm.

In April and June of 1864 the Union Congress passed legislation that outlawed the use of Civil War tokens as substitutes for United States currency. Although John Marr produced a few special tokens for collectors after the war, that legislation effectively ended Mossin & Marr’s Civil War token business.

Here is a portrait of John Marr.



This is John Marr's merchant Civil War token store card.



The reverse of this piece features Marr's "naked Amazon" design. Marr was forced to leave what is now Germany as a result of the 1848 political uprising that spread through Europe. Many of those who were looking to over the the monarchies became exiles and immigrated to America. I believe that the "naked Amazon" was inspired by this painting, "Liberty Leading the People."



Here are a few examples of John Marr's Merchant Civil War tokens.

This token was issued by THE Fredrick Miller who founded the Miller Brewing Company. It has since been owned by many large corporations.



Philip Best also ran a brewery in Milwaukee. His daughter married a man named Pabst, and the brand name continues to this day.



The Blatz Brewing Company issued this token which features King Gambrinus who is a symbol of beer, brewing, joviality, and joie de vivre. Blatz beer was before my time, but I believe that our fathers (But not father; he disliked beer.) and grandfathers enjoyed.



Edward Aschermann and Nathan E. Neustadtl ran a cigar and tobacco store at 252 East Water Street in Milwaukee.



As you can see, Marr's artistry was well above that of most Civil War token die makers.

I have more pieces if that is any interest.

 

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Gee, there must have been a lot of alcoholics in Milwaukee in those days.

 

Nope, just German culture.

 

I have to agree that those Marr tokens have a better design and overall eye appeal than many other CWT's.

BTW Blatz beer is still produced by Pabst which in turn is produced by Miller Brewing. A complicated tangle that has resulted in occasional lawsuits over the years - Miller would really like to get out of producing those two former independent beers. I worked in sales for a distributor up until I started a new industry back in July - it was interesting researching the lineages of brewers and vintners.

 

Here are a few more John Marr tokens.

Here is the latest in Civil War era kitchen ranges from J. Pritzlaff & Co.

"Don't despair" when you can buy your saws and other hardware from Wm. Frankfurth



Jeweler Henry Upmeyer had to have been a huge fan of the late Stephen Douglas. He had Douglas' profile on all of his tokens. This is not a political piece because Douglas died in 1861 before this piece was made in 1863.



Very few of John Marr's tokens are listed as patriotic varieties. This is one of the exception. Some people think that these pieces were salesmen's samples for the stock die varieties.

I believe that these two designs were the motifs that Marr intended to use with is 1864 tokens. The law that outlawed the use of tokens as money substitutes put an end to that. Very few merchant tokens were issued with these designs.



The Ch. Herman Broom and cleaning supplies token dies were used to make many specialty tokens for 19th century collectors after the war. There are many sub-varieties in listed in the CWT books in various metals.



This piece is listed as a Mossin and Marr token, but the die work is not in the John Marr style. I believe that these dies may have been cut by John Marr's partner, Peter Mossin.

 

Thanks John for your posts on the John Marr's CWTs. Rick

 

Hi John,

I'm a student in a numismatics class researching Marr's E. Aschermann & Co. Civil War Token featuring a Native American on horseback. Your post was incredibly informative, and I really enjoyed reading it!

I was wondering if you could share the sources you used for your post. I'm writing an essay on Marr's token but have had difficulty finding information about Marr. No worries if you don’t recall—I know how tough it can be to track down sources from years ago!

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

 

Visit cwtsociety.com. In upper right click link Order Books On-Line, scroll down to find “Engravers, Minters and Distributors of Civil War Tokens. A bargain at $25.00. Or join as a member and get it for $5.00.

 

@johnmilton