To my brethren with way more knowledge than myself, I've come across a coin/token in my Grandfather's old house. (Yeah I know we hear this one quite frequently, but I promise it is true.) I've fairly familiar with various coin types, and am not that much of a newbie. However, I'm having the darndest time finding information about this token/coin. It is a bit faded, but looks like: http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd202/DJP7x0s/1863armynavy.jpg http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd202/DJP7x0s/1863armynavyrev.jpg (These are not the coin, but taken from a previous posting here by another user) The only difference is the date. My coin says 1865. What i would like to know is: - Were these made in 1865? - Who made them? - How many were made? - Why it made? - Did it ever have any cash (face) value? - Any sources that I can consult with? (books, websites, etc...) Thanx!
If the date really is 1865 then I would say it is most likely a fantasy. A law was pasted in late 1863 that outlawed the production of these tokens so there are very few pieces that date after 1863, a few 1864 almost no or possibly 1865's, and there is no die of that obv type listed with an 1865 date. (There isn't even an 1864) so it makes yours highly doubtful. Are you positive on the date?
Fantasy in this case does not mean that he is lying, or making it up. It means a piece made in imitation of something else or pretending to be something that never really existed. As far as I know no actual civil war token like the OP described was ever made with an 1865 date. That does not mean that someone did not make some at some that time with the 1865 date. They could very well exist, but they are not what they claim to be. the OP never actually posted a picture of the actual coin they have so it is hard to say what it really is. But even if it can be shown to most likely be contemporary to the time it claims, it would still be classed as a fantasy because it would be for two years after they were outlawed and so was not made to circulate but rather to be sold to collectors.
1 of 1865 Army & Navy go back to tavern in Troy NY.as a kid in Catskill NY you could find one in a coin shop easy but that was back around 1957-68.
But there are no 1865 dated patriotic dies listed in Fuld, and darn few 1864's. It is possible that a flat top 3 could be mistaken for a 5 but we would still have to see a good picture to make a positive identification.
