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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Larry Moran, post: 554801, member: 4580&quot;]<b>Glaubrecht CWT 110/442a • R1</b></p><p><br /></p><p>Hi, Ryan.&nbsp; Your photos are excellent.&nbsp; : )</p><p><br /></p><p><b>Your Patriotic Civil War Token is Fuld 110/442a (R1).</b> </p><p><br /></p><p>These tokens, struck by George Glaubrecht of New York City may have been struck without a collar other than a thin retaining ring.&nbsp; Had there been a collar like those used to produce a reeded edge, it would have been struck by the hammer die and damaged during these strikes. No evidence of die-to-collar clashing is shown on any of these tokens that I have seen. Dentils and rims were engraved in the die with indexing machinery, and these dies were out of alignment during striking. </p><p><br /></p><p>Had the dies been perfectly aligned, there would be no excess planchet material showing beyond the rims (see obverse examples).&nbsp; Sinking the dies to an optimum depth was the mark of an expert and would leave no excess flashing outside the rim.&nbsp; These tokens are evidence of mechanical error.&nbsp; Machining to remove such flashing would have removed part of the rim on the obverse.&nbsp; In addition, labor cost to remove any flashing would have been more expensive than the value of the tokens.</p><p><br /></p><p>I suspect that the obverse was the stationary anvil die and was installed facing upward.&nbsp; The reverse, showing the &#039;flange,&#039; was likely the upper die, facing downward and rammed against the planchet.&nbsp; Being the only moving die, it would be the die most likely to shift and cause the result you see at the edge of the token.</p><p><br /></p><p>On this MS-64 RB example you can see the edge from a slighter degree of misalignment of the dies, yet very similar to yours.&nbsp; The level of the fields should be almost identical to the seeming &#039;excess&#039; planchet material, since the flat portion outside the rim was formed by a flat portion of the die that extended beyond the rims.&nbsp; Where you see the flat portion beyond the rim, there was the other die pressing the planchet against a flat portion of the die on this side, outside the rim.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g254/Larrymo123/Washington-NewYorkCWTUnframed39.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>The scalloping you see at the edge of your example may be due to incidental abuse. Also, I suspect that a few folks have &#039;helped&#039; by hammering a bit on its edge to attempt to bring it into a more conventional appearance.&nbsp; They covered up some history and defiled the natural condition of the token.</p><p><br /></p><p>My example of exactly the same variety shows clearly the same die chip/crack that involved the &#039;3&#039; in the date on your example. To me it appears that the chip appeared when the date was repunched (also known as &#039;recutting&#039;) as part of reconditioning the die obverse die.&nbsp; But it may have developed later at the same fragile point at the edge of the punched &#039;3,&#039; due to an incident in the die sinker&#039;s shop or the striking area.</p><p><br /></p><p>During the die reconditioning process, a few stars were repunched, if not all of them.&nbsp; See star number 4 at 9:30 and part of a star in the fields past the 12th star, at about 4:30. The flat surface of the fields were probably polished or ground smooth, easy to do since the fields were the easiest place to polish or mill, located on the end of the die.&nbsp; This token was probably punched using a steam-powered coin press similar to those used at the Scovill Manufacturing Company and the Waterbury Button Company, both in Waterbury CT.</p><p><br /></p><p>Waterbury had large factories, but many die sinkers worked in store fronts in New York City.&nbsp; They generally had only one press and one steam-generating boiler.&nbsp; Backwoods die sinkers in smaller towns did employ more primitve striking equipment, some reverting to use of screw presses similar to those used in England prior to the advent of steam power.</p><p><br /></p><p>Conder Tokens from the 1790&#039;s are proof of the use of steam power.&nbsp; Screw presses would have difficulty striking a large series of such large and heavy coins.&nbsp; Water or oil hydraulic presses of a kind were likely under development then and used in some die sinker&#039;s striking facilities.</p><p><br /></p><p>Remember that Civil War Tokens circulated exactly like official coinage, were accepted at all banks and merchants.&nbsp; By the end of the war, the value of copper tokens would approach two cents. Their intrinsic value was generally the same as a one cent coin struck by the U.S. Mint.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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