1837 Liberty, Not One Cent Hard Times Token HT-51 "MILLIONS FOR DEFENSE NOT ONE CENT FOR TRIBUTE" Another coin shop pickup recently for the ripe price of $22.50. Been wanting a hard times token for a while now, so glad I got it.
Decent example of a Hard Times Token, congratulations! While I have some Civil War tokens, the HTTs are fun to collect and larger too. For instance,
Just curious, why are there so many different varieties of the hard times tokens? They seem to have very minor differences but there are so many of them!
They were privately minted. In 1837 a large number of Hard Times Tokens were issued to cope with the coin shortage that last 5 years.
Of course this was the mid 19th century, these were made by companies that made buttons, medals and all sorts of things from stamped metal. If dies gave out new ones had to be made, often with minor differences between them. And of course some of the tokens were made by even smaller companies with less quality control leading to even more differences among dies. Lyman Low published the first compilation of HTT varieties, that I know of, in 1898. Many years later, Russell Rulau added even more varieties. Coin collectors, always interested in details and rarity, have found even more. I'm more of a type kind of collector, and just try to find one of the main types, exclusive of the really rare ones.
I'm starting to gain interest in these. I encounter them alot when I browse colonials. Were these only redeemable at the merchant on the token?
Not at all. There were issued by numerous businesses as a means to give relief to the coin shortage of the times. Having the name of the issuer on the token was simply a means of advertising.
I believe they were just used like regular coins. People needed to make their own tokens to make up for the coins people hoarded during the time. This probably isn't the best explanation but hopefully it helps
So if these were worth a penny for instance.... somebody like me could take a dollar and buy 100 of them? Therefore allowing me to make small purchases since there wasnt enough U.S. pennies to circulate? Or would people like accept these in they're change? Is that how consumers obtained them? Also ... you gotta wonder if particular merchants would not accept them. Or...not accept certain ones...since the real money was backed or promised by the merchant on the coin.
