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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 3595198, member: 101855&quot;]The Lakeland, Florida Collectorama show is being held this weekend, which is unusual. Usually it is in the fall, but it was pushed up this time because there will construction at the Lakeland Convention Center during its regular time.</p><p><br /></p><p>I purchased this piece at the show. It an Abraham Lincoln medalet that was issued during the Civil War period. It was probably issued in 1860, but the date is uncertain because the mintage was small, and the reverse was also used for a Winfield Scott token that <i>may have </i>been issued in 1852.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]961250[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]961251[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This Lincoln obverse was paired with four reverses, including this one. This piece was only issued in White Metal, and according DeWitt, it had a very small mintage.</p><p><br /></p><p>The &quot;united we stand, divided we fall&quot; is an appropriate Civil War era them. The ax which appears in the center is called a fasces. The symbol dates from Etruscan and Roman times. It stands for magistrate or state power and jurisdiction. The message is there is more power when the rods or sticks are bound together that when they are separate.</p><p><br /></p><p>The symbol appears on the reverse of the Mercury Dime and is on the wall in the United States House of Representatives. Unfortunately Italian dictator, Benito Mussolini also used as a symbol for his government and the word &quot;fascist&quot; is derived from it. Fortunnately, it is still a viable symbol unlike the swastika which has been totally corrupted by the Nazis. Before World War II, the swastika was a symbol for good luck.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is the Winfield Scott token, which has the same reverse.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]961259[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]961261[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This piece is listed with the 1852 campaign items, but it may have been issued in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War, Scott was at the head of the Union Army and was the nation&#039;s #1 surviving military hero. </p><p><br /></p><p>In some ways it is unfortunate that he was too old and fat to take command of the army. Had he been in charge, the war might have ended sooner. As it was he was pushed out with an assist from George McClellan.</p><p><br /></p><p>The reasons why I wrote &quot;in some ways&quot; was because slavery might have lasted longer had Scott been in command and ended the war sooner. Political events had to move before Abraham Lincoln was able to issue the Emancipation Proclamation in the fall of 1862. Had war ended earlier, the fundamental issue of slavery might have still gone unresolved.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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