Solve The Mystery - Civil War Token?

I like to mess around on a local auction site and this piece has no interest. I like a mystery. Can this possibly be anything other than a civil war token?

 

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Looks like a German Mark - A mintmark is Berlin.
However, that date would be early for that reverse I think. Fantasy piece?

 

I guess it would be Prussia, pre-German Empire. Looks something like this, but not exactly:
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces23080.html

 

Austria Vienna mint

 

@derkerlegand and @Lon Chaney I think you both.... I was absolutely convinced that this was likely a civil war token. Thanks!

 

Wow! Good job on the ID of this one. I bet that is Adolf's fingerprint on the obverse.

 

So it is. "A" mintmark for Vienna Mint in Austria. And "A" mintmark for Berlin Mint in Germany. And their coins look basically identical. Not confusing at all.
Here's the piece on Numista: https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces2360.html
108 million+ minted - looking at scrap value for that one.

 

Based on what I see by these answers I must say it’s not a Civil War Token, it’s a foreign coin dated 1860. I agree Randy, no interest to me either.

 

I like circulated coins so please don't take it personally, but, it looks like a cyclops wolf with a finger print over it. Those guys must be quite knowledgeable in world coins to have identified it.

 

It can’t be a Civil War token because of the date. Aside from the Wealth of the South series, all Civil War tokens are dated between 1861 and 1864.

 

That is what I was thinking, but wasn't sure about 1861 being the proliferation of these pieces. But that does make sense. The reverse sure did appear to be a small cent design to me.

 

Paris mint has the "A" mintmark too.
I guess the A = 1st letter = main/first mint theme was a common one.

 

That's what I was going to say. Most CWT's are dated 1863 if I remember correctly.

Bruce

 

They are. 1863 was the prime year for the CWTs. There are a number of 1864s also. The tokens were outlawed in the spring of 1864, but since they don't have months along with the dates, all 1864 dated tokens remain on the list.

A number of pieces were made in off-metals for collectors after the war.

I am not an off-metal CWT collector because of that. That's okay because a lot of them are rare and expensive.

 

Heck, the Civil War didn't even begin until 1861!

 

And the massive hoarding of coins which brought about the civil war tokens didn't really begin to be a big problem until 1862.

 

The why the Fulds, who wrote the classic CWT books began with 1861 for the tokens. They were outlawed for circulation in 1864. I suppose the Wealth of the South token was the quintessential metallic statement of the southern argument for secession. The for the four 1860 presidential candidates, which are too rare to have had an impact in the race, came along.

At this point, I guess I should post examples of the Wealth of the South series. There tokens were first made in 1860, and there re-issued with many die pairings for years after that.

The Wealth of the South token



Abraham Lincoln, Republican candidate



Stephen Douglas, regular Democratic Party candidate



John Breckenridge, Southern Democrat candidate.



John Bell, Constitution and Union candidate - the moderate southerner who supported the continuation of slavery and the union.



None of these tokens are easy to find. There are around 200 varieties all told, when you count all of the dies and the pairing of dies, some of which make no sense.

 

Correct me if I am wrong @johnmilton …… Did we not have pieces that circulated prior to 1863 that were merchants tokens?

 

As did the piece you are discussing, and it certainly would have "circulated" during the civil war years, as a value token of some sort.

It was not only "traditional" U.S CWTs that were used in commerce/bargaining etc. There were many Troops from Europe that participated in the War (and before the War) and used their "old country" coins.

 

There were many of them. The Hard Times and Civil War tokens are best known, but there were many others throughout the 19th century. Russell Rulau wrote a phonebook sized guide with listed them.