Hi I have a coin that looks like a penny except on one side it says "REMEMBRANCE OF 1863" and on the other it says "ONE COUNTRY". The "ONE COUNTRY" has a wreath around it. Any idea of what this is and it's value? Thanks! Rich
Can you post a photo? It sounds like it is damaged--but before I say that for sure I would like to see it. Speedy
I thought since you said it looked like a cent it had Lincoln on it and something eles on the other side. I think it is a token and I would not be the one to as about tokens as they are newer to me---I'm sure someone will stop here soon that will know more. Speedy
I think I might have found that it is a Civil War Token....I know there is a guy here that know a lot about them and I think would be better at this than I am... I'll aks him to look at this thread... Speedy
I've never cleaned the coin, but I'm not the original owner so I can't say if it ever has been... the coin is very dull though and does not look like it has been cleaned. The camera flash made the coin look very shiny, but in fact the coin is quite dull... like an old penny. thanks jody - I don't speak "coin" though lol... what does that mean?
I agree – I think it is a Civil War Token, a “Patriotic“ version (patriotic theme, as opposed to a “Storecard“, which would be an advertisement for a merchant). These were privately issued to circulate as cent coins during the Civil War when coins were hard to come by. They are very collectable, but unless it is a great rarity, not especially valuable (many are available in good shape for less than $10 if I recall correctly).
Hello Rich. As others have said, what you have is known as a Patriotic Civil War token. These were the "generic" tokens issued as opposed to the other general category of Civil War storecards, which had merchant advertising on them. These tokens were greatly needed at their time of issue as most hard coinage throughout the country was being hoarded to the point merchants were having a very difficult time making change for routine transactions. Jody was close, but was a number off on the die identification (die 245 has a period after the date). The Fuld id number for your token is 244/291a. The dies used to produce patriotic cwts were each assigned an identification number. So to identify any of these tokens, the die id numbers are listed for the die pair that was used to produce that token. The 244 is the "Remembrance" die. The "a" is the indicator that the metal used to make the token is copper, Many metals were used to make cwts, although the only other metal known with this die pairing is lead. This token has been assigned a rarity of "R2", which indicates that it is believed that between 2001 to 5000 of that particular token variety still exist. While not a very large quantity, in the token realm that equates to being fairly common. Your token looks to be in pretty good shape, I would guess XF but can not be sure without item in hand. Values from Kanzinger's 2002 book (the most current) are $14 in Fine and Very Fine, $18 in Xtra Fine, and $25 in Uncirculated. Whether the token has been cleaned or not really has very little bearing on the value, especially for the lower valued tokens. Even something as severe as drilling a hole in a cwt may only lower its value 10-15%. Quite a different story as compared to collectable regular coinage.
Wow thanks for all that info cwtokenman, and speedy for the help again. That's really interesting information. I didn't think the coin was anything but it has some nice history to it! I'm going to print out that post and keep it with the coin. Not a bad piece to round out a collection! Rich
You are very welcome Rich. That is only an exceptionally brief history/background for Civil War tokens. They are also the reason why the Federal government passed laws prohibiting the private issueing of money, as well as a great influence on the government to make small sized copper cents. There is much interesting reading to be found on this topic.
