One of our members wanted to see some P.T. Barnum tokens. He was a great showman and basically an honest man. He was just the 19th century king of the "humbug!" Oddly enough he had his tokens made in England, not the U.S. This was Barnum's museum building in New York. Confederate spys tried to set it on fire. They didn't burn it down, but it did burn a short time later. "Col. Tom Thumb," whose real name was Charles Stratton, was Barnum's must successful attraction. Stratton has some real talents as comedian and impersonator. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. Both of them made a lot of money. Here is Tom Thumb and Queen Victoria. They did meet when Barnum took his show to England. Tom Thumb and a copy of the Capped Bust design. And the best Tom Thumb token with his coach on the reverse.
