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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Larry Moran, post: 556203, member: 4580&quot;]That&#039;s one great thing about Civil War Tokens.&nbsp; For the most part they were free of counterfeits. Anybody could make a token and it wasn&#039;t illegal.&nbsp; Their tokens would be no more counterfeit than the originals and none were ever &#039;minted&#039; by a government; CWT&#039;s were &#039;struck&#039; by die sinkers.</p><p><br /></p><p>All tokens were accepted because they had intrinsic value. Many die sinkers worked with screw presses, sometimes in barns in the countryside, and farmers or their children worked for the die sinkers, usually part-time.</p><p><br /></p><p>Even the Chinese don&#039;t counterfeit Civil War Tokens, yet.&nbsp; LOL</p><p><br /></p><p>Conder Tokens were different and many counterfeits existed, but they were often made of other metals or alloys. I&#039;m sure you know that already, being a researcher.&nbsp; I believe many of the fake Conders were made in the early 19th Century.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have now considered the possibility that the token is of an off-metal, perhaps alloyed with lead, tin, or zinc.&nbsp; But my hunch is that it&#039;s real, and made of copper.&nbsp; But I can&#039;t be sure at this point.&nbsp; Yes, the metallurgy is in doubt, imho.</p><p><br /></p><p>BTW, tokens struck without collars would have excess flowing out between the two dies, in the center of the edge or thereabouts, without any method or need to restrain the flow. Perhaps it was an adjustment strike, still worth one cent.&nbsp; The &#039;flange&#039; seems to be near the center of the edge, which would indicate lack of any retaining collar. Only the pressure and friction of the dies held the planchet in place.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some of the research I&#039;ve read has been wrong.&nbsp; For example, some sources say Conder tokens were struck with one piece collars which produced the edge lettering.&nbsp; This seems impossible with edges having raised letters and I doubt it could have been accomplished with tokens having incuse lettering or designs.&nbsp; How would a die sinker get a token to release from a one piece collar?&nbsp; It couldn&#039;t be done, I believe.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have read that some coin presses used four-piece collars, which makes more sense to me, giving much easier release from the collar assembly. Most retaining collars were smooth and produced a plain edge.&nbsp; In those cases, a token could be pushed out of the collar, by press machinery.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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