I would like confirmation on what this token is, I assume it is US patriotic civil war token but I cannot find this specific pattern in the reference pages I've looked at on-line. Size - same as small US cent, copper Obverse: Figure facing left, S below, legend THE UNION MUST AND SHALL BE PRESERVED Reverse: THIS MEDAL - PRICE ONE CENT surrounded by wreath Thanks...
Hello acanthite, You are correct as your token is a Patriotic Civil War token. The id is 137/395a, and is one of the common ones with an R-1 rating (over 5000 known). The figure on the obverse is Gen. Andrew Jackson. These token dies are ascribed to Frederick B. Smith (hence the "S" below Jackson's bust), who was located at 122 1/2 Fulton Street, New York City, N.Y. during the Civil War. He was born in New York City on December 26, 1811. Smith was a long time engraver, starting as an apprentice under the well known Charles Cushing Wright. At some point in the 1830s he became a partner with James Bale, at which time he engraved various merchant's cards and Hard Times tokens. Later he became a partner to Gustav Horst, and during the Civil War was partnered with Herman Hartmann. Smith moved to Philadelphia in the late 1870s, and there was a publisher of medals with J.H. Diehl. He continued in his engraving profession until he was well into his seventies. Smith's token designs were rather simple, and often designs were repeated. Typically his dies were used to produce large numbers of tokens, basically until they were worn down and filled. Your token is somewhat better than the average strike for that issue. Many Unc examples have far less details than are visible on your token. Smith's workmanship on his tokens is kind of middle of the road, and he seemed to lean towards using lightweight planchets. It is likely that Smith did not consider token engraving to be worthy of his best efforts. Except for a few brass pieces, Smith did not make off metal PCWTs. Kanzinger's 2002 book on cwts values your token at $14 in F/VF, $18 in XF, and $25 in Unc. Those are slightly higher values than the typical R-1 PCWT.
Thanks, cwtokenman, for the detailed information on this token:thumb: . I came across this one by chance, but it does interest me in seeking a few more of them out for their historical relevance.
You are most welcome acanthite. I agree that these tokens are especially rich with historical significance. I suspect that they may provide substantial financial benefits in the near future as well, since the 150th anniversary of the Civil War is coming in 2011. In the past year or so, I have noticed considerable increases in their selling prices on ebay, which I believe to be a taste of things to come, so it could pay to accumulate a few of these now before further increases arrive. If you have any ties to possible cwt issueing cities (there were 400), or wish to PM me your surname, I could check to see if any such cwts were made. I find that sort of thing to be pretty cool. I lucked out on both accounts as my hometown had 1 merchant (2 varieties), and my surname appears on 15 varieties, although most of them are rather scarce (4 uniques, 5 others in the 2-10 range, and only 2 are listed at more than 200 known). So far I have one of the hometown varieties and 4 different of the surname ones.
