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Civil War Token - Identity Unknown

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Stephen Wood

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Aug 6, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/6/96
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I just found a token that is supposedly a civil war token. On the front
appears a bastardization of the obverse of the 19th centry 1 dollar gold
piece (Liberty wearing Indian headdress) and on the rear appears an eagle
and the motto "One Army."

Can anyone shed any light on the identity of this copper?

Thanks

Dan Masters

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Aug 6, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/6/96
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Stephen,

I have known about Civil War Tokens for a long time, but I am new to
collecting them. I don't even have the books yet. So take what I say
with a grain of salt.

What you have is a CWT. CWTs were made to offset the public's hoarding
of copper during the Civil War. I understand that about ten thousand
varieties were made, sharing far fewer obverse and reverse dies, and even
fewer design motifs. The entire field is divided into two catagories;
Store Cards and Patriotics. Store cards advertise, and were redeemable
by specific merchants. Merchants paid a manufacturer for them and
realised a small profit on each one they distributed (assuming it was
never redeemed). Soon the manufacturers began making generic tokens with
patriotic symbols and slogans so they could reap the profits themselves.
Collectors identify a particular variety based on which obverse and
reverse dies were used (Patriotics) or what merchant issued it (Store
Cards). I beleive that nearly all CWTs with dates are dated 1863. They
were all issued in the states of the Union, none in the Confederacy.

The piece you have is a Patriotic CWT. You would have to identify the
obverse and reverse dies to determine its value. In AU condition (for
example) retail prices range from around $10.00 to hundreds (thousands?)
of dollars.

If you think collectors get overly worked up when it comes to errors and
anomalies in modern US coinage, talk to CWT fanatics!

Dan M

sandy bose

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Aug 7, 1996, 3:00:00 AM8/7/96
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Stephen Wood wrote:
>
> I just found a token that is supposedly a civil war token. On the front
> appears a bastardization of the obverse of the 19th centry 1 dollar gold
> piece (Liberty wearing Indian headdress) and on the rear appears an eagle
> and the motto "One Army."
>
> Can anyone shed any light on the identity of this copper?
>
> Thanks

I checked Patriotic Civil War Tokens by Fuld and didn't find any
listing for "One Army". I don't have the update to the Fuld book -
it may be in there. Could it be "Our Army" ? If so there are several
possible die combinations: 51/333 51/334 54/335 to name a few.
Accurately identifying a CWT by description alone is tough because you
can have the same design on different dies but with subtle differences.
There are four different dies for "Our Army" for example. CWT prices
depend on condition, rarity , the metal and market demand.

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