Featured A Survey of U.S. Anti-Slavery Tokens - Part 2, The Civil War Tokens

When I was a coin dealer, collectors often asked me, “Are there any anti-slavery Civil War tokens?” The answer is yes, but the number of varieties is lower than you might think given that slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War.

I believe that the number of abolitionist Civil War tokens (CWT for short) was limited because many northerners were ambivalent about fighting the war to free the slaves. During the early years of the war, the primary goal was to re-unite the Union. Emancipation was an objective for some, but for most Northern politicians, military leaders, and rank and file soldiers, restoring the Union was the primary objective.

That changed when Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862. That presidential order, which was couched as a “military necessity,” stated that slaves who were living in any state that was still in rebellion as of January 1, 1863 would henceforth be forever free.

That announcement did not sit well with some rank and file soldiers in the Union Army. They grumbled that they had not signed on to risk their lives for the slaves, but the pronouncement of their commander and chief was final. “The war to restore the Union” also became “The war to free the slaves.” Since 1863 was the peak year for Civil War token production, it not surprising that the anti-slavery tokens were issued at that time in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation.

“Liberty and No Slaves”

The most common obverse die that was used to make the anti-slavery Civil War tokens featured a portrait of Lady Liberty, the date, “1863,” and the slogan, “Liberty and No Slaves.” George and Melvin Fuld listed this die as #36 in their classic work, Patriotic Civil War Tokens. It was paired with three reverse dies, numbers 340, 271 and 432.



Reverse die #340 features a Union shield draped by American flags, mostly surround by a laurel wreath. A liberty cap, surrounded by 13 stars, is hung on a pole above the shield. This is by far the most common variety that has die #36 as the obverse. The Fulds rated it as a rarity 2, with estimated the number of available pieces to be between 2,001 and 5,000. I believe that the actual number is at the high end of that range. When I was dealer I was able to obtain a steady supply of those tokens, and they were easy to sell.



Reverse die #271 features the slogan “Union for ever” mostly surrounded by a wreath of agricultural products. There is a Union shield at the bottom flanked by two American flags on each side. The “Union Forever” slogan appears on many Civil War tokens on several different die varieties. Die #271 was also paired with nine other obverse dies which was not an unusual practice by those who made the tokens. The Fulds rated it as a rarity 3, with an estimated population of 501 to 2,000 pieces. My experience has been that this variety is scarcer than the previous one, but that it can be found using some patience.



Reverse die #432 has the slogan, “No compromise with traitors.” This is by far the scarcest of the tokens that featured the “Liberty and Slaves” slogan on the obverse. The Fulds rated it as a Rarity-4 (201 – 500 known). I believe that its rarity is on the low end of that estimate because I handled and saw a very limited number of those pieces while I was a dealer.

Although the “No compromise with traitors” die was used to strike 22 varieties of Civil War tokens, all but three or four them are scarce to rare. It was a common practice to make “vanity tokens” for Civil War era collectors who wanted something rare. That would explain why so many CWT varieties are known with this design.

Generally the patriotic slogans on Civil War tokens tended to avoid confrontational statements, like the “No compromise with traitors” stand. More often phrases like “Our Army,” “Our Navy,” “Army & Navy” and “Freedom” appeared on the reverse of many pieces. Perhaps the token makers and those who distributed them were trying to avoid offending those who might have had friends or family members who were fighting for or were sympathetic to the Confederacy.



“North Star” and a Stocking

This piece has stirred controversy among CWT collectors. The obverse features a large star in the center with the word “North” at the top and “Star” at the bottom. The revere features a finely detailed stocking surrounded by 13 stars with the date “1863” at the bottom. It is a scarce variety that is rated as a rarity 5 with an estimated population of 76 to 200 pieces. It is listed in Fuld as die variety numbers 250/437. Within the patriotic Civil War token series this is the only piece in which both of those dies were used, although they were used as stock or reverse dies for some Civil War store card tokens.

Some believe that this token has a connection with Underground Railroad. That lose group of abolitionists provided routes and safehouses for runaway slaves who were fleeing the South. “North Star” refers to the direction, “Follow the north star,” which the railroad “conductors” gave to the refugees as they made their way to freedom. The stocking on the reverse was symbolic of the bag that many former slaves used to hold their belongings, usually suspended on a pole swung over their shoulder.



This piece is sometimes collected with a patriotic envelope cover, that features a row of runaway slaves marching toward the “North Star,” with a face, that is telling them to “Come along colored pussons.” Although this might seem like a racist design today, one must remember that perceptions and words used have changed considerably over the last 150 + years. In the 1860s such language would have been viewed as considerate and supportive.

Other collectors believe that this explanation for the design of this token is a flight of fancy. They point to the fact that Chicago die maker, William Lanphear, who made both dies, used them on store card advertising tokens. Lanphear was noted for frequently mixing his die combinations for no overriding reason, and for these collectors, this piece is merely one on of those pairings.

Such die combinations were also used as salesman’s samples. These tokens displayed stock reverses to merchants who were considering the purchase of Civil War Store cards to advertise their business. Many merchants paid to have one custom die made that gave the name, purpose and location of their shops or offices. A stock die was used for the reverse which was often used on multiple merchant tokens. Whatever take you might have on this piece, it is an interesting relic of the Civil War.



“Military Necesity” (sic), and crossed cannon

This piece features the slogan “Military Necesity” with the two words separated by an ornament on the obverse. A pair of crossed cannon on the reverse, surrounded by stars, with the date “1863” at the bottom appear on the reverse. The word “necessity” is misspelled which was probably a die cutting error.

Most collectors associate this piece with Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Michigan die maker, Alexander Gleason, issued this patriotic token. Gleason issued “Military Necesity” design only for this variety. He paired the crossed cannon with some of his store card tokens, but it is reasonable to assume that Gleason had the Emancipation Proclamation in mind when he issued this piece. Fuld lists this piece as patriotic token 172/429. It is rated as a rarity – 5 with an estimated 76 to 200 pieces extant.

Abraham Lincoln used the phrase “military necessity” when he issued his proclamation for legal reasons. Slavery was legal in 1862, and Lincoln had no authority to end slavery for humanitarian reasons. As the commander in chief of the military, he did have a right to take actions that benefited his fighting forces. Since the South was using slaves to dig trenches and produce food and other raw materials for the military, Lincoln took the legalistic view that he the power to end slavery for the benefit his army and navy.

As the war came to a close, Lincoln was concerned that his authority to free the slaves would end once the hostilities ceased. It was for that reason that he pushed for the passage of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude except for incidences that involved punishment for a crime. This was the driving theme for the 2012 Steven Spielberg film, Lincoln.



“Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land”

This slogan is based upon the Bible from Leviticus 25:10, which reads, “Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all inhabitants thereof.” It was one of inscriptions on the Liberty Bell. The Liberty Bell became a symbol for the abolitionist movement starting in 1837. It appeared on the front of Liberty magazine, which was the publication of New York Anti-slavery Society. In time the abolitionists would change the name of the bell from “The state house bell” to the “Liberty Bell.”

Die maker, Henry D. Higgins, of Mishawaka, Indiana noted this anti-slavery slogan and used it on two of his Civil War token dies. Higgins, who was a “jack of many trades,” made eye glasses, weather barometers, guns, jewelry, false teeth and CWT dies. Higgins bought a limited number of tokens that advertised his optometry business, probably from Chicago CWT token maker, Shubael Childs, but soon he was making store card dies for himself and other area merchants.

Higgins made his dies in two ways. One method was to obtain a Civil War token and use it to imprint a copy of the token’s design in the softened face of a blank die. After hardening, he used the die strike tokens. Although some of the fine detail was lost, this produce produced a credible token.

The far more interesting Higgins creations were from dies that he made himself. These designs, which many would call folk art, included chains, flourishes, leaves, stars, trumpets and a great deal of raggedly placed lettering. Higgins tokens are called “Indiana primitives,” and they form a very popular series for some advanced Civil War token collectors. Most Indiana primitives are scarce to rare and often bring strong prices. Most pieces were used in circulation and often fall into the VF grade although there are very limited number of Mint State pieces available to collectors.



“The Federal Government, A National Currency, Free Trade and Human Rights”


This slogan appears on the reverse of attorney N. Mendal Shafer’s Civil War store card that he issued to advertise his law practice in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although the reference to “human rights” could be taken as a general statement for civil liberties, it is hard not to imagine this as a call for an end to slavery given that it was the great issue of the day.

The Fuld store card number for the most common variety of this token is OH 165-FN -1a1. It is rated as an Rarity – 3 with 501 to 2,000 examples known. This most common sub variety has a plain edge, but other varieties are known in copper and copper-nickel with a reeded edge, and in brass with a plain edge. In addition, the Shafer advertising store card was paired with eight other reverses, but all of them are very rare. These additional varieties were probably made for Civil War era collectors.

Shafer billed himself as a constitutional expert. Shafer built patriotic diagrams of the Federal Government that were designed to educate the public on how government operated before the Civil War and how it would be changed after the war. Shafer thought that many of the misunderstandings that had fueled the start of the war among masses had been caused by a general misconception of how the government worked. On July 9, 1862 he gave a lecture entitled, “Constitutional Governments, or Magna Charta and the Constitution and Federal Government.” He billed himself as “a gentleman of considerable celebrity as a lecturer.” Today he is mostly remembered by those who collect his Civil War tokens.



Lincoln and “Freedom”

Although one of Abraham Lincoln’s historical nicknames is “the great emancipator,” surprising few of the tokens and medalets that his campaign issued during his two runs for the presidency mention the issue. In 1860 Lincoln ran on a platform that called only an end to the expansion of slave states and territories, not an end to the abominable practice. In 1864, however Lincoln had freed most slaves by his Emancipation Proclamation. Still his supporters seemed to be reluctant to highlight the issue on the campaign pieces they distributed.

Overall there are 12 or 13 obverse die varieties of Lincoln Civil War tokens. The 13th piece may have been Lincoln, but some collectors believe that it is only “an old man with a beard.” Among all of those tokens, only three of those obverses are combined with a reverse that touches on the slavery issue. Even in those cases, the anti-slavery message in quietly mentioned by the single word, “Freedom.” All of those tokens are somewhat scarce but not rare.

Why were Lincoln’s supporters so reluctant to make slavery a major campaign issue? Unfortunately it was probably because they perceived that freeing the slaves was not an overwhelmingly popular political cause.

Given the increased interest and resulting higher prices for Civil War tokens, especially in the Mint State grades, assembling a collection of these eight or nine pieces (If you collect both of the minor Indiana Primitive varieties.) will involve a significant effort today. Still none of them are “impossible rarities,” and any collector with a reasonable budget and enough desire should be able to locate these pieces at the large shows and in on-line auctions.

 

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A phenomenally complete and educational thread. Always enjoy your write ups @johnmilton !

 

Hmm. I did not know that it only applied to those particular states and not some of the Union states that allowed slavery. Of course, it applied to all states after the 13th Amendment was ratified.

Excellent write-up, as usual.

 

If you were an slave in Delaware or Maryland, for example, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free you because those states were still in the Union.

 

I missed this excellent thread the first time around. glad it was bumped. Very informative and an interesting sub-collection within the CWT's