Abraham Lincoln was the central figure in the Civil War. There were more token varieties and probably more tokens produced with his image on them, during the war, than any other person. Despite that, most of his tokens and political medalets range from somewhat to quite expensive because of collector demand. I have been a serious Lincoln token collector for many years. I have concerntrated on the obverse varieties that feature his image. Many of these Lincoln images are married to multiple reverses and are struck in different metals. I don't collect those. I have concentraed upon the Lincoln varieties. Here are the Lincoln Civil War token images. There are many other Lincoln pieces, but they are not listed with the Civil War tokens because they are considered to too large and were not used as substitutes for coins. Some of these pieces may not have been coin substitutes, but they were the right size. Fuld 506 and 507 - An clean shaven bust of Lincoln surrounded by the legend, “For president Abraham Lincoln of Ill.” (Lincoln grew the beard after he was elected president at the suggestion of a young girl who, in a letter, suggested that he would look more presidential if he covered his face.) The main difference between these two minor varieties is the presence or absence of a period after “Ill.” These tokens were made by Cincinnati, Ohio die sinker, Benjamin True. True also made tokens for the other three 1860 presidential candidates and the “Wealth of the South” secession pieces. These two Lincoln varieties are very scarce (the most common varieties are R-8, 5 to 10 known), very popular and hard to find. Fuld 124 and 125 - A bearded bust of Lincoln, as all the remaining varieties are, surrounded by “18 Abm. Lincoln 64 President.” These two varieties differ only because #124 has a beaded boarder and #125 has a plain boarder. Fuld suggested the #125 may be a worn die state of #124. These tokens are only somewhat scarce (The most common varieties are R-6, 21 to 75 known), but they are fairly expensive. Fuld 126 - A bust of Lincoln surrounded by the legend, “The Right Man in the Right Place,” with the date, 1864, at the bottom. This variety is fairly scarce. The die probably had more detail in Lincoln's hair, but all of the examples I have seen are no sharper than the piece shown above. The token was too thin for the detail to be struck up properly. The most common piece is an R-5 (76 to 200 known). Fuld 127 - A bust of Lincoln surrounded by 13 stars and the date, 1864, at the bottom. This obverse is usually found with die 248, the “OK” variety. This combination is the most common Lincoln CWT by far. It can be found at local coin shows at reasonable prices. Fuld 128 - A bust of Lincoln surrounded by 35 stars and the date, 1864, at the bottom. This is the second most common Lincoln CWT variety. It is often seen with either a handsome eagle (#289) or the words, “Lincoln and Union,” (#290) on the reverse. I have seen many of these piece ruined because they had solder on the reverse. I think that this may have been done back in the 19th century to attach a pin to the piece so that it could be worn. The pieces with the solder are worth far less than the tokens that don't have it. The most common variety is an R-3, 501 to 2,000 known. Fuld 129 and 130 - A very handsome high relief bust of Lincoln surrounded by, “Abraham Lincoln,” and the date, 1864, at the bottom. Fuld 129 has a rope border and #130 has denticles which reduces the need to collect both varieties. Fuld states that the die for #129 still existed in 1930 and that restrikes, with another reverse, were made from it up to that time. I have seen these restrikes offered in print for $20. All the CWT varieties that are listed in Fuld are R-7 or higher (20 or fewer specimens known). Fuld 131 - A bust of Lincoln surround by, “Abraham Lincoln” and the date, 1864, at the bottom. This rare variety is most often coupled with the Union League reverse shown above. coupled with the “Union League” variety, #479. The most common varieties are listed as R-8 (5 to 10 known) Fuld 131A - A bust of Lincoln inside a circle surrounded outside the circle by “Abraham Lincoln” and the date, 1864, at the bottom. The Lincoln bust is very similar #128, and both varieties were issued by F.C. Key and Sons of Philadelphia. This obverse is quite rare with the most common variety listed as R-7. Fuld 132 and 132A - A bust of Lincoln surrounded by, “Abraham Lincoln for President.” This is one of my favorite Lincoln pieces because the vice president, Andrew Johnson, is on the reverse (#149). The most obvious difference between these two minor varieties is the presence (#132) or absence (#132A) of the engraver’s initials, “RL”, for Robert Lovett. Lovett probably issued a few thousand of these tokens, and the Lincoln die broke and had to be replaced midway through his production run. Both varieties are rated as R-5 (76 to 200 known). Fuld 133 - A bust of Lincoln with “Lincoln” at the top and, “and Liberty” at the bottom. This piece is almost always holed. There are only two or three examples known that are not holed. The reverse (#458) features an ax stuck in a log and the words, “Good for Another Heat,” which was a reinforcement of Lincoln’s rail splitter image. This is the only 1864 campaign piece that brings up the Lincoln rail splitter image. By this time the country had gone through too much spend time with frivolity. I believe that most if not all of these piece were given a gold tinted coating, which is visible on the piece shown above. Very few examples still have this coating today. CWT specialist dealers often have this one in stock, and I have seen it on rare occasions at local coin shows. This is no an easy set to assemble, but it does pose a challenge for collectors with larger budgets who have grown tired of the “hype” and nonsense that has taken some of the fun out of collecting regular U.S. coinage.
Congratulations on completing this "set"! I have two Lincoln Civil War Tokens, a 128/289 and a 132A/149: The second piece especially is remarkable to me for its affordability relative to its historical interest and rarity. You've got a token that circulated during the Presidential election of 1864, right in the middle of the Civil War, which probably started some heated political discussions and maybe even fistfights when it was spent. And it is over 2,000 times as rare as a 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent! Yet this only cost me around $60 (I forget the exact amount, but it was in that ballpark), while the '09-S VDB, with far less history and much more common, would cost hundreds of dollars.
This is the point to so many collectors miss when they think so highly of "key date coins" with not much history attached to them. Those coins are only a bit less common that many of the other dates in a series, and yet they get a disproportionate amount of the attention.
What a great summary of these tokens! It's like a mini Red Book of Lincoln CWTs. As always a good numismatic write up from J. Milton.
At one time these were mistakenly attributed to Robert Lovett, Jr. Evidence found in the 2015 sale of Rudolph Laubenheimer's estate is generally accepted as proof that the 'R L' initials are Laubenheimer, not Lovett.
