I was told this is a rare token but I don’t really know for sure. It’s in nice condition for sure. The obverse has George Washington facing right with his name above, 4 stars on each side and PRESIDENT at the bottom. The reverse is dated AUGUST, 1864 at the bottom. From 9 to 3 is GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER. The center is GREAT FAIR IN AID OF THE U.S. SANITARY COMMISSION, NANTUCKET, MASS.
This token has some scarcity, but it’s not as rare as you might think. This piece was sold at a Sanitary Fair fund raiser that was held on the island. The Sanitary Commission raised funds to supply Union soldiers in the field with cleaning utensils, blankets, bandages and soap. Believe it or not, about as many soldiers died of diseases in the camps as those who died on the battlefield. People didn’t understand how diseases were spread during the Civil War, but they knew that cleanliness had something to do with preventing them. Many local communities held fundraises like this, and at least five of them issued tokens for those events. Nantucket was a whaling community during the Civil War. Whaling was a high income, high risk industry. There were many well to do people on the island. The New York City Sanitary Fair was one of the biggest, but its token, which looks very much like this one, and was made by the same token maker, is very scarce and expensive. They got the dates of the fair mixed up, and very few pieces were issued.
Here is the New York Sanitary Fair token. My piece is worn, which is unusual. Most of the survivors seemto be Mint State. I paid about $800 for this one. The Mint State pieces were going for about $1,600 when I bought this one. It's probably a lot higher now. And here is my Nantucket piece. Here are some others. Philadelphia. These tokens were struck by the Philadelphia Mint on the floor of the expo. They come in three metals and many minor varieties. Here is stero viewer plate from the floor of the Philadelphia Sanitary Fair. Wapakoneta, Ohio. This one is somewhat sharce. Springfield, Massachusetts. This one was added to the CWT list in the new book. It should have been listed all along.
This CWT die combination is Patriotic numbers 54/179. It is an R-2 which equals "Not so common." That means that there are a few thousand known. The reverse is based on an Andrew Jackson equestrian statue that is in Washington, DC and New Orleans. The phrase "The Federal Union must be preserved" is a shortened version of the Jackson quote "The Union must and shall be preserved." Jackson said these words during the nullification crisis of the 1830s. Southern states, led by South Carolina, claimed that they had the right to nullify any Federal law that went against their interests. The issue at the time were the protective tariffs, but many people saw slavery as the underlying cause. Supporters of the Union used this Jackson quote as a rallying cry for their movement during the Civil War. It appears on a number of Civil War tokens.
