Civil War tokens are

token coin In numismatics, token coins or trade tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of token coins is part of exonumia and token coins are token money. Their denomination is shown or implied by size, color or shape. They are of ...

s that were privately minted and distributed in the United States between 1861 and 1864. They were used mainly in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...

and

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

. The widespread use of the tokens was a result of the scarcity of government-issued cents during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. Civil War tokens became illegal after the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

passed a law on April 22, 1864, prohibiting the issue of any one or two-cent coins, tokens or devices for use as currency. On June 8, 1864, an additional law was passed that forbade all private coinage.Yeoman, R.S., ''A Guide Book of United States Coins'' (2004 edition), Whitman Publishing, 2003. Civil War tokens are divided into three types: store cards, patriotic tokens, and

sutler A sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells provisions to an army in the field, in camp, or in quarters. Sutlers sold wares from the back of a wagon or a temporary tent, traveling with an army or to remote military outposts. Sutler wa ...

tokens. All three types were utilized as currency, and are differentiated by their designs. The collectible value of the tokens is primarily determined by their condition and rarity.

History

By 1862, the second year of the Civil War, government-issued coinage began vanishing from circulation. American citizens hoarded all coins with gold and silver, and eventually began hoarding copper-nickel cents as well. This made it extremely difficult for businesses to conduct transactions. In response, many merchants turned to private minters to fill the void left by the hoarded coins. The first of these privately minted tokens appeared in the autumn of 1862, by H. A. Ratterman, in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

. New York issues followed in the spring of 1863, first with Lindenmueller currency store card tokens issued by

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

barkeep Gustavus Lindenmueller and then with Knickerbocker currency patriotic tokens issued by William H. Bridgens. It is estimated that by 1864, there were 25,000,000 Civil War tokens (nearly all redeemable for one cent) in circulation, consisting of approximately 7,000–8,000 varieties.George and Melvin Fuld, ''U.S. Civil War Store Cards'', Quarterman Publishing, Inc., 1975. Lindenmueller tokens are one of the best-known and commonly struck types. They served as store cards (advertisements) for Lindenmueller and he had more than one million of these one-cent tokens struck and placed into circulation in 1863. One of the common uses for the token was for

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

fare. The Third Avenue Railroad company of New York, which had willingly accepted a large quantity of the Lindenmueller tokens in lieu of actual currency, asked Lindenmueller to redeem them. He refused, and the railroad had no

legal recourse A legal recourse is an action that can be taken by an individual or a corporation to attempt to remedy a legal difficulty. * A lawsuit if the issue is a matter of Civil law (common law), civil law * Contracts that require mediation or arbitration ...

. Incidents such as these eventually forced the government to intervene.Tebben, Gerald
"An overview of Civil War Tokens"
, Columbus, O., Civil War Tokens. Retrieved June 26, 2006.

Government intervention

On April 22, 1864, Congress enacted the

Coinage Act of 1864 The Coinage Act of 1864 was a United States federal law passed on April 22, 1864, which changed the composition of the Cent (United States coin), one-cent coin and authorized the minting of the Two-cent piece (United States coin), two-cent coin. ...

. While the act is most remembered for the introduction of the phrase "

In God We Trust "In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States as well as the motto of the U.S. state of Florida, along with the nation of Nicaragua (Spanish language, Spanish: '' ...

" on the newly created two-cent piece, it also effectively ended the usage of Civil War tokens. In addition to authorizing the minting of the two-cent piece, the act changed the composition of the one-cent piece from a copper-nickel alloy (weighing 4.67 grams) to a lighter, less thick piece composed of 95% copper (weighing 3.11 grams)."Indian Head Cents"
CoinFacts.com. Retrieved on June 23, 2006 The new one-cent piece was much closer in weight to the Civil War tokens, and found greater acceptance among the public.
. www.coinresource.com. Retrieved on June 23, 2006. While the Coinage Act made Civil War tokens impractical, the issue of their legality was decided on June 8, 1864, when Congress enacted , which made the minting and usage of non-government issued coins punishable by a fine of up to $2,000, (~$ in ) a prison term of up to five years, or both. (Chapter 25 of Title 18 deals specifically with

counterfeit A counterfeit is a fake or unauthorized replica of a genuine product, such as money, documents, designer items, or other valuable goods. Counterfeiting generally involves creating an imitation of a genuine item that closely resembles the original ...

and

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...

). It did not make it illegal to own Civil War tokens. Evidence exists that the tokens were viewed as collectibles as early as 1863, when the first known listings of Civil War tokens were published.

Types

Civil War tokens have been extensively cataloged by Fuld and his numbering of types is the standard.

Patriotic tokens

Patriotic Civil War tokens typically displayed a

patriotic Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and a sense of attachment to one's country or state. This attachment can be a combination of different feelings for things such as the language of one's homeland, and its ethnic, cultural, politic ...

slogan or image on one or both sides. Since the majority of these tokens were minted in Union states, the slogans and images were decidedly pro-Union. Some common examples of slogans found on patriotic tokens are "The Union Must and Shall Be Preserved", "Union For Ever", and "Old Glory". Some of the images found on patriotic tokens were the

flag of the United States The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

, a 19th-century

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

, and the

USS Monitor USS ''Monitor'' was an ironclad warship built for the United States Navy during the American Civil War and completed in early 1862, the first such ship commissioned by the Navy. ''Monitor'' played a central role in the Battle of Hampton Roads ...

.Farr, Arthur W. March 1999
"More on the . Retrieved July 1, 2006
Among the best-known varieties of patriotic tokens are the so-called "Dix tokens." They are named for

John Adams Dix John Adams Dix (July 24, 1798 – April 21, 1879) was an American politician and military officer who was Secretary of the Treasury, Governor of New York and Union major general during the Civil War. He was notable for arresting the pro-Southe ...

, who served as

Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...

in 1861. In a letter from Dix to a

revenue cutter A cutter is any of various types of watercraft. The term can refer to the rig (sail plan) of a sailing vessel (but with regional differences in definition), to a governmental enforcement agency vessel (such as a coast guard or border force cut ...

captain, Lieutenant Caldwell, he ordered Caldwell to relieve another cutter captain of his command for refusing an order to transfer from

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. The letter ends with the following sentence: "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." The quote found its way to a number of patriotic tokens, albeit with a slightly modified wording ("haul down" is usually replaced by "tear it down").

Store cards

Civil War store cards advertised the name and/or location of privately owned businesses. Businesses that could afford it had two custom dies made, with both advertising the business. Otherwise, only one side displayed the business's information.

Sutler tokens

Sutler tokens are similar to store cards. Rather than listing the name of a private business, however, these tokens bore the name of a particular army unit (usually a

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

) and the name of the

who conducted transactions with the regiment. Of the three types of Civil War tokens, sutler tokens are by far the rarest.

Collecting

There are several factors that determine the collectible value of Civil War tokens including condition and rarity. Rarity is measured on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the most common type). The scale was developed by noted numismatic dealer and writer George Fuld. The material used to mint Civil War tokens can also affect collectability. Civil war tokens were minted using a variety of materials,

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

being a common choice (often actually

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

). Other materials used for minting were

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

tin Tin is a chemical element; it has symbol Sn () and atomic number 50. A silvery-colored metal, tin is soft enough to be cut with little force, and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, a bar of tin makes a sound, the ...

German silver Nickel silver, maillechort, German silver, argentan, new silver, nickel brass, albata, or alpacca is a cupronickel (copper with nickel) alloy with the addition of zinc. The usual formulation is 60% copper, 20% nickel and 20% zinc. Nickel silver ...

white metal The white metals are a series of often decorative bright metal alloys used as a base for plated silverware, ornaments or novelties, as well as any of several lead-based or tin-based alloys used for things like bearings, jewellery, miniature f ...

, and

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

. Examples of tokens minted using

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Types of polyisoprene ...

are also known to exist.

Fuld rarity scale

* R-1: Greater than 5,000 * R-2: Between 2,000 and 5,000 * R-3: Between 500 and 2,000 * R-4: Between 200 and 500 * R-5: Between 76 and 200 * R-6: Between 21 and 75 * R-7: Between 11 and 20 * R-8: Between 5 and 10 * R-9: Between 2 and 4 * R-10: Unique (one known example)

Civil War Token Society

In 1967 the Civil War Token Society was founded by a group of collectors for the purpose of "stimulat nginterest and research in the field of Civil War token collecting." The society publishes a quarterly journal, ''Civil War Era Numismatics'' (previously ''The Civil War Token Journal''), maintains a library, and conducts quarterly mail auctions.

Notes and references

External links

The Civil War Token SocietyG.W. Forbes Civil War Sutler Token

* ttp://www.shapell.org/manuscript.aspx?rice-and-byers-fort-still-indian-territory-sutler-coin-rare Rare Civil War Sutler Coins Shapell Manuscript Foundation
Civil War Token Resources

High resolution photographs of Civil War Token types
{{DEFAULTSORT:Civil War Token Token coins Historical currencies of the United States Economic history of the American Civil War