CWT's and HTT's

I picked up few Civil War and Hard Times Tokens, and invite anyone else to share theirs. This one is Fuld NY630H-1a, Rarity 1. It's one of the larger CWT's at 24mm.

J. L. Fuld established his business in 1842, and according to History and Commerce of New York, 1891, was succeeded by a certain J. Wallace "about 1860." (p. 242) So perhaps Mr. Wallace kept the established name of the business, or "about" is defined by at least three years, since the token is dated 1863.

At first I thought the combination of taxidermy and glasswork was odd. Could you bring dearly departed Fido in to have him stuffed and mounted in a glass case? Talk about one-stop-shopping. But the clue to the mystery came from the 1863 Annual Report of the Iowa State Agricultural Society: "Glass eyes can be procured from...J. L. Bode, Naturalist, No. 16 North William street, near Chatham street, N.Y." (p. 331) So Mr. Bode was supplying glass eyes for taxidermists, at least as far west as Iowa. Now the token made sense.

(By the way, in case you're wondering why a "bird-stuffer" would put a stag on his token, the term was simply a nickname for taxidermist in the 19th-century.)

There is a name in small letters in the antlers - I assume it's the engraver's signature. I read I. HOLOFF. Does anyone see or know different?



This coin is pretty grimy, and it's going to get a good acetone treatment, so I've posted the "before" picture. Also, every single example of this token that I've seen (maybe about a dozen) is weakly-struck in the center of the reverse, even high-grade examples.

 

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"J. L. Fuld established his business in 1842..." should probably read "J. L. Bode..."

You did some good research there. Imagine what you could have done if you had access to the proper Fuld reference!

 

Sorry about the typo! I ordered U.S. Civil War Storecards. I'm assuming that's the right reference for this token.

 

I managed to clean some PVC gunk off the first coin. I'm satisfied at this point that the remaining color, as splotchy as it is, is simply the toning of the copper.



The next token is Fuld 630AM-1a. According to Gary Hermann, posting at Collectors Society, Karl was born in Bavaria in 1824, and emigrated to the United States sometime before 1859. He was likely one of the "Forty Eighters," failed revolutionaries, who fearing for their lives fled Germany. (The obverse presents Germania Seated.) Karl's establishment was either a liquor store or saloon. Source.

According to Bowers, this token is an R-2, with an estimated mintage of 2000-5000. The engraver's signature is E. SIGEL.



I haven't corroborated any of the information I found on this token, but it sounds legitimate enough. (Simply repeating something you read on the internet can be embarrassingly wrong, so I have to include a disclaimer.)

 

Nice stuff so far JA, I especially like the second one.

 

The die sinker for the Bode reverse (Stag's head) is Louis Roloff who "signed " his work "J. Roloff". Roloff was a New York sinker working at 1 New Chambers. There are only three patriotic dies positively attributed to him, 58, 58A, and 439, but he was more active in cutting store card dies. It's thought that Roloff had some working relationship with another New York sinker named Emil Sigel who worked at 177 William St. Unlike Roloff, Sigel was a prolific maker of CWT cards.
The unusual size of 24mm was a characteristic of Roloff's work. Very nice examples, JA. Thanks for posting them.

Bruce

 

Sorry, JA , Roloff signed his work "L. Roloff", not "J. Roloff". My mistake!

Bruce

 

Thanks for the clarification Bruce. I can see that it is indeed L. Roloff. E. Sigel is the die sinker on the C. Karl piece, so I coincidentally got two tokens whose creators may have worked together.

Question: you said the stag was on the reverse. Is this generally how the sides of CWT's are defined? Business address on the obverse, anything else on the reverse? Do I have the C. Karl token backwards as well?

 

Actually, Germania Seated on the Karl piece is considered the reverse, not the obverse. However, you were correct to note the Stags Head on the Bode card is considered the obverse. Many times on CWTs the "picture" side is the reverse as the merchant's information is of more importance. In this case, since Bode had his name and occupation on the picture side, the catalogers apparently considered it the obverse. In my main collecting interest, counterstamps, the obverse is always the side of the coin on which the stamp appears, no matter what side of the coin it's actually struck on.

BTW, JA, there are known Roloff and Sigel dies muled which suggests a possible working relationship between the two men.

Bruce

 

I don't suppose I need to explain Hard Times Tokens to anyone here but myself, but the gist of it is that Andrew Jackson and his Treasury Secretary Levi Woodbury issued a resounding economic blunder known as the Specie Circular in 1836. Banks were required to accept only gold and silver in payment for land. The idea was to bolster reserves, as the banks at this time were issuing piles of unbacked paper money (shinplaster). The law backfired as citizens hoarded their coins and made a run on the banks.

On May 10, 1837, banks in New York suspended specie payments altogether, meaning, your paper money was now worthless. The reasons for the Panic of 1837 and the recession that followed are numerous and complex. Wiki is a good start on the subject, but the economic analysis of this period is still hotly debated. At any rate, the hoarding of official coin always results in a plethora of token issues, in this case Hard Times Tokens.

This one is Rulau HT 67. It is always interesting to me to find a coin or token that references a specific historical event, in this case the suspension of specie payments on May 10, 1837. NOVR refers to November 27th, 1836, on which date bankers from nineteen states met in New York, and set the resumption of specie payments to May 10, 1838. The phoenix would rise from the flames of burning shinplaster. (As it was, the recession lasted a few more years - recovery did not come quickly.)



This appears to be one of the common HTT's, easy to collect in pleasing grades. The issue is anonymous.

 

Question, if someone would help me:

I used to collect CWT (HTT) when I was a kid. Probably had approx 200, and (VERY regrettably SOLD them in my late 20's...new house, child on the way!) I understand the need to fill the small-change coin vacuum, and understand the conversion from Large Cents to Cupro-Nickle Cents, to Copper Cents during that time; as well as the Civil War pressure on metals...However, why are virtually ALL CWT dated 1863?

(BTW, I STILL have my very FIRST CWT...believe it or not, found it in my Grandmother's change coffee can...asked her for it, and I scored it when I was 9! Gave me the Coin Bug!)

 

Due to hoarding, official coinage began to disappear in 1862. The dearth of small change was most pronounced in 1863. In 1864, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. § 486, which made it illegal to manufacture and use "homemade" tokens (but they were not deemed illegal to own). So we're talking about a very brief window during which they were produced, namely a little bit before, during, and a little bit after 1863.

 

I realized that in post-processing, I accidentally over-saturated my images. Here is the corrected pic - this is a much more honest representation of the coins, which are a very dark olive brown. I won two more HTT's this afternoon on the Bay, and I'll post them as soon as they arrive.

 

They're beautiful pieces, JA. Looking forward to seeing the next batch.

Bruce

 

Thanks Bruce. I found two of the most iconic types on eBay in XF-AU, and sniped them for a song. They were shipped today. I'm not sure why people post auctions ending on weekday afternoons, but I'm not complaining. Hardly anyone collects these things anyway, so it may not have made a difference if the auction ended on a Sunday evening and came with free beer and dancing girls.

 

Nice shots JA, still like the seated lady the best, so far.

 

She's easy to mistake for Columbia, but the double-headed eagle on the shield is a traditional German coat of arms dating back to the Holy Roman Empire.

 

It would have made a difference to me, JA.

Bruce

 

Thank you for the explanation. Very helpful. I learned all that years ago, and had forgotten! Thanks for the refresher!

 

I like your Bode Birdstuffer token. Here's mine,I need to do better photos sometime.