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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 26527752, member: 101855"]In general 1880 Garfield campaign tokens are not that rare. He ran against Civil War general Windfield Scott Hancock. Here is the example of the piece you posted which is in my collection. [ATTACH=full]1690780[/ATTACH] Garfield came from humble beginnings, and he made that one of the themes of his campaign. In his youth, he worked the tow ropes on canal boats. This token made that theme more obvious. This is probably the most common Garfield campaign piece. [ATTACH=full]1690781[/ATTACH] Garfield was shot by a crazy man a little of three months after his inauguration. His doctor was the pits. It would have been better if they had bandaged him up and left the bullet in him. He might well have survived. Instead the doctor probed for the bullet with unclean instruments and dirty fingers. Garfield died of infections his doctor gave him. Garfield may have been one of the brightest men every elected president. It was said that he could hold a pen in each hand and write Latin on one side and Greek on the other. It was also said that he was part of the corrupt Republican establishment of the period. This was part of Mark Twain's "gilded age." This piece is unusual. The wording would lead one to believe that it was issued uring the time when Garfield was fighting for his life. He was shot on July 2, 1881. [ATTACH=full]1690784[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]