American Civil War - Abraham Lincoln Patriotic re-election token. Brass. 1864. 19mm 2.04g. Fuld 127/248B. R-4 (201 - 500 estimated in existence). Scarcer in Brass. XF/AU. Obverse: Abraham Lincoln surrounded by 13 stars of the union. Lifetime issuance as part of his presidential reelection campaign. Reverse: OK "OK" has 2 meanings here. One stands for the term that the country will be OK under Lincoln's leadership. The other stands for "Ole Kinderhook", the nickname of Lincoln's political ally Martin van Buren, called after the town in New York state in which he was born. Civil war tokens were issued as currency substitutes due to large scale hoarding of coins as a result of economic uncertainty due to the war. This token whilst intended as a political propaganda item, was nonetheless exchanged as pseudo currency and was most commonly issued in copper and some in brass and other metals.
Very nice! I am going to have to keep my eye out for one. They are far less expensive than I would have thought. http://www.ebay.com/itm/1864-Abraha...462166?hash=item5448f7f396:g:FugAAOSwBt5ZN4lN
Civil War tokens and storecards (advertising tokens from the civil war period) are a fascinating subject. If you're interested in these, The Civil War Token Society is a wonderful organization, with a great quarterly journal (shameless plug). I've been a member for almost 30 years. http://cwtsociety.com/
