The Feuchtwanger Cent thread

Here's a new arrival, my first Feuchtwanger Composition Cent, bought in a New York auction late last month. Struck beginning in 1837 and ending in 1864, Lewis Feuchtwanger's one cent and three cent trial pieces circulated freely during the Hard Times Era, around 1836-1844. In 1837, Feuchtwanger suggested to the U.S. Congress that his metallic composition be used to replace the use of copper cents.

These pieces were a german silver variety, made with a composition of nickel, copper, and zinc.

Values can be found in the Red Book.

Feel free to comment and post your own pics of Feuchtwangers. I'll be searching for a high-grade example in the future, But I do like this old relic, especially for its eagle.

 

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I think Feuchtwangers are cool. I have two or three - all holed. One thing Feughtwanger was able to accomplish was - - - 20 years later when the Large Cent gave way to the Small Cent the size adopted for the Small Cent was the size used by Feuchtwanger.

Your coin looks to be a dug coin and maybe a cracked planchet to boot.

 

Thanks for sharing, Hobo, Your photos are terrific. : )

I think you may be right about mine, or possibly retrieved from saltwater, or both. LOL

Yours is nice and in my estimation, its hole is not a serious detraction. In this case, it adds some interest. I suppose either you or I could have selected a better place for the hole. ; )

On mine the detail of the eagle adds a lot of interest, and after looking at the photos of it for a couple of days,my opinion of the surfaces and estimated grade have changed to EF details, 'minor granularity'. In addition to detractions of the token, it has its strengths -- I'd call them 'details.' I believe the strictest graders today, armed with more knowledge than in the past would give the coin a 'VF, Granular' grade and comment.

Among strengths is its possible luster remaining in the devices and typical of EF's, though long ago patinated, dulled, even possibly corroded. But the apparent roughness in the planchet surfaces of the fields are not seemingly reflected in damage to the eagle. It's also possible that what seems to be luster is residue from burial; that I will admit.

20 years ago, if I'd walked through the door of a coin shop and showed them this piece, they would have all said "Porous Fine." and offered me a dollar, maybe. Today, I detect some granularity but not porosity.

I suspect that mine was struck early on and that the planchet cracked in a few places at the time of striking, and that striking occurred while Feuchtwanger's 'composition' was still being developed. In fact, this may have been a trial piece, believe it or not. The planchet now reminds me of many ancient Greek and Roman coins after striking. : )

I'm sure that further study of the 'composition' may help me better understand this one. I've much to learn about these before plodding into MS-63 territory, but heck for $50 and a $7.50 buyer's premium, and $5 for shipping and handling, then waiting 3 weeks plus for delivery, I'm happy to have my low-grade example safely here, and not where it came from.

For me, one satisfaction is knowing that the item listing said "WE WILL NOT SHIP," but I arranged bid, shipping and payment over the telephone.

Sometimes an item stands out. To me, this was one of them. Mainly it's the eagle and a strange originality of the token, in spite of its obvious experience and detractions.

 

Larry, the more I look at your Feuchtwanger the better I like it. It's got a lot of character. Great photo too!

 

Here is mine. Someday I'd like to get the 3 cent version.

 

Nice Feuchtwanger, Brad.

 

Thanks. I think the reverse of yours is the same, that being reverse A (widely spaced ONE, A and P recut, small o's in COMPOSITION). However, the obverses are different, yours being obverse 1 (37 much larger than 18, seven tail feathers) and mine being obverse 2 (37 much larger than 18 but away from ground, eight tail feathers).

I think Larry's is obverse 5 (date evenly spaced, seven tail feathers only one of which barely touches the ground), and reverse H (extra berry to left of ribbon, recutting of NE and CEN, E of ONE is set higher than preceding letter).

 

I didn't even know there were varieties within the series. Thanks. : )

I'm following along in hopes of gleaning more information and seeing even more examples.

 

Here is my Feuchtwanger. The 7 of the date is curious, it looks like a fat "1" instead of a 7.

Like Brad, i hope one day to be able to add a 3-cent price to my collection.

 

Here's mine:

http://www.cointalk.com/forum/t48941/

I just got a new laptop and all my pics are on my old laptop and I have to go pickup a 1TB external drive to move everything onto from my old laptop, so I don't bog this one down like I did with it.

I've always liked these, from the material to the design and I find it interesting he made them over such a long period of time and didn't get into trouble. :goofer:

Ribbit

 

These are all great examples which show a range of varieties.

That crumbling of the 7 marks it as obverse 3 (also has a rim break to right of date, and three of the seven feathers touch ground). Reverse is D (O in ONE low, right ribbon overlaps left, right ribbon tail almost touches SI).

 

Cool thread. Thanks, Larry.

I picked up my first Feuchtwanger at the EAC last week. VF details, some damage. Net VG. El cheapo. I'll post a photo.

 

I'd been waiting for an excuse to post photos of mine, but I was too lazy to start a thread, I guess. It's pretty crusty:

 

I just love those and I really want to get one down the road. A Feuchtwanger one cent and three cent are both on my list of coins. Thanks for sharing them. :thumb:

 

Yeah, I think the eagle and snake thing is pretty neat- very much primitive art!

The three centers always create a frenzy when they come up for sale, I'll count myself lucky if I ever get a shot at one.(combination of luck and sufficient funds)!

 

I attended an auction in Madison, Wisconsin, on May 9th, and the token and coin collections of Chester Krause were auctioned. Many of the items had previously in the Mossin & Marr Family Collection from 1863 until 1989. In May of 2000, Mr. Krause purchased many of those tokens and they were fully attributed. Most tokens sold had originated in the State of Wisconsin.

Civil War Store cards and patriotic tokens were auctioned in the morning and early afternoon, 600 lots in all. There were 50-100 bidders, both collectors and dealers.

One Civil War Token sold for $15,500. My wife later told me that she overheard a woman saying, "There's no economic downturn in this room." LOL

513 coin lots would be auctioned in the late afternoon and evening.

I hope you like this example.

 

That is one beautiful Feuchtwanger Larry! I'm so glad you won it!

 

Very Nice!!!!!

 

Superb! Neat 'pedigree' too.

 

What a great looking coin and for me another 1st here on CoinTalk LOL thanks for sharing them guy's :bow: One thing with them have you guy's noticed the resemblence to the coinage of Mexico? ie the Eagle and the snake :thumb: