Just looking for some info. and guestimated value. I know they're worn bad, but I got em in a package trade, thanx...
They are Civil War trade tokens. They come in two flavors: patriotic and "store card". You have two "store cards". There was a terriffic shortage of "real" coins during the Civil War, much of it due to hoarding. Private manufacturers took up the slack.
Thanks for posting your two Civil War Tokens Abe. The Liberty Head piece is designated by Fuld as IN630A-1a and is rated an R-5. Henry Higgins was a Mishawaka, IN jeweler who actually cut his own obverse dies. Because of the relatively poor workmanship his issues are known as "Indiana Primatives". The "homemade" look actually adds value to them. I would estimate a value of 20 or $30 only because of the poor condition. The second one is a different story. You have an R-9 rated token issued by William Hastings of New York City (NY630AI-1a). As the caption says he was a liquor importer. Yours appears to be copper, but they're are others known in lead and white metal. The only common (R-2) ones are the lead examples. Both Fuld (1975) and the later Kanzinger value guide (2002) rate this as an R-9, probably only 2 or 3 examples known. Kanzinger, who was the first to attempt assigning values to CWT's, listed yours at $125 In UNC. The poor condition of yours would lower the value a lot but I still think you have a nice piece there. Also remember that the value of CWTs since then has risen dramatically, in some cases many times. New York issues would also lower the value somewhat because so many NY merchants issued store cards. Thanks for posting them for us to see. Great tokens! Bruce
Cool, thats a boatload of info thank you. The liquor store token doesn't appear to be copper and has the looks of a white metal. Is there much difference in their weights?
The Hastings store card looked copper in your picture Abe, but if it's white metal it still rates an R-9. I don't have any information in regard to weights of these tokens. I don't know if anyone has done a study of the weights because there's probably a wide difference due to their private manufacture. I don't think there was a lot of effort made to conform to standards because they were emergency money not official coinage. I happen to like the "off metal" pieces like yours and they do command a premium over copper and brass, particularly brass.There's a member on CT who knows a lot more about these issues than I do, but unfortunately he rarely posts anymore. He goes by cwtokenman I believe. You might try a PM to him and see if he responds. One of the "bigs" in the CWT world is named Steve Hayden who regularly conducts auctions and always sets up at the major shows. I can't think off hand what his web address is, but if you Google him you can find it. He attends all the Baltimore shows, but I don't know if you're close enough to get to the show. The next one is March 22-25 at the convention center. Good luck to you and be sure to let us know how you make out. Bruce
By the way Abe, if you could send me a PM with a decent picture of both sides of the token I'd be glad to show it to Hayden when I see him In Baltimore. My plans at the moment are to go to the show, but sometimes things come up and I can't make it. Any way if you want, I'll give it a shot. Bruce
