I have a penny from 1863 or 1883 not sure` what it` says, on one side it has a union jackwith `13 stars and the` other` side says F. Siegel with a man on a horse charging. I am just wondering what ``it is` and` it's` worth.
There are two F. Siegel dies, which were used with two Union Jack (shield) dies, as well as one additional die. Your description was good enough to determine the die pairing as 180/341. The year would be 1863, and as whoopig thought, it is a Civil War token. Before a determination of worth can be made, the metal used to make the token must be known. I will list the possibilities with id number first, rarity rating (known population), followed by the metal used, followed by 2002 (the most current published) values in the grades of F/VF, XF, and UNC. 180/341a R1 (very common, over 5000 known), copper, 15, 20, 28 180/341b R8 (5-10 known), brass, n/a, n/a, 125 180/341d R9 (2-4 known), copper-nickel, n/a, n/a, 150 180/341do R8 struck over a US copper-nickel cent, n/a, n/a, 350 180/341e R8, nickel, n/a, n/a, 125 180/341f R9, silver, n/a, n/a, 600 180/341fo R9, struck over a US dime, n/a, n/a, 1700 180/341j R9, white metal, n/a, n/a, 125 Let us know which one you have. If you need any assistance in determining the metal used, let me know (pics would be helpful). The man on the horse is the die sinker's uncle. The earlier of the two dies has the words "Hero of Pea Ridge" above the horseman. On many of these tokens, the lettering is very faint, but usually some letters are visible, in case you could not decipher what was supposed to be there. Later, that phrase was removed and replaced with a string of stars. I have some history around somewhere on this particular token if you would like to know more.
I will try to post a pic in the next couple of days..... one other thing about this token depending on what you consider the front picture the back one is upside down.
All coin reverses should be 180* from the obverse if turned left to right. If you turn top to bottom the top is always up.
What whoopig describes is known as "coin turn" where the top of the obverse is adjacent to the bottom of the reverse. While it is not uncommon for tokens to be of that orientation, neither is it uncommon for tokens to have "medal turn", where the top of the obverse is adjacent to the top of the reverse. Quite a few tokens also have a rather random die alignment. On the token in question, the horse/rider die is the #180. That is considered to be the obverse, or front.
