Who Is "R. Sage"? Counterstamped Matron Head Large Cent

You may have nailed it with Russell Sage. This circa 1830s coin would have still been circulating when his political career reached its zenith in the 1850s.

@ExoGuy: Russell Sage spent his early adulthood in Troy, NY, before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852. Later in the 1850s he moved to New York City, following 4 years in Congress.

Interesting example!

Standard Catalogue of United States Tokens 1700-1900




The decade of the 1850's. There are a great many counterstamps that predate 1850, but the numbers then swelled. The fad virtually died during the war years when circulating coins were being hoarded. Emergency "currency" in the form of paper scrip, merchant tokens, encased postage, etc. dominated common trade.

Yes, large cents were the principal targets for c/s's. My collection reflects this, as over 1,300 of my 3,000 pieces are hosted on large cents. This makes sense, given their large size and affordability.

One certainly can't go on the assumption that this c/s is that of THE Russell Sage, politician. There were literally a hundred or more "R. Sages" on this continent (Canada included!) during the mid 1800's (Russell, Robert, Richard, Roland, etc ...).

To weigh the possibilities, I look at what the c/s tells us. In comparison to most c/s's, the font is small, suggesting that it was possibly created to be applied to a smaller product or part of a larger product. Most c/s'ers were masons, many of whom worked with metal ... toolmakers, smiths, patentees. I search for occupational and directory listings along those lines and develop a list of potential "suspects."

Another consideration to make when only one c/s'd coin is known is that the host was simply chosen as a piece of metal, upon which to test a stamp. In other words, there may have been NO commercial intent to create this so-called coin-turned-token. That said, I suspect this MAY NOT have been been the case with this R. SAGE c/s. I would note the possibly targeted, cartoon-like placement of this c/s in the obverse field; this, as if Lady Liberty is announcing Sage's name. Still, this could be coincidental or a punny intent by the stamp's creator. While speculation about c/s's can be frustrating, I personally find it intriguing.

Many folks felt that damaged/stamped coins like this host were worthless, having no value as such. Consequently, many were discarded back when. I have a number of c/s'd "ground-finds" in my collection ... typically so, these early coppers.

Finally, as for the use of this Sage c/s, my overall suspicion is that it was likely used as a calling card of sorts to introduce oneself to a fellow mason. This c/s is clesrly the product of a singlr, prepared punch, created by a skilled metal worker; this, as opposed to having been applied by single letter punches.

@Altaira ... Simply google "masonic tokens" to learn about them. It appears to me that the later tokens were precipitated by altered or c/s'd large cents; this, leading to the wholesale manufacture of "masonic pennies." Rich Hartzog produced a good token book on all manner of exonumia some thirty-plus years ago.

Yes, the c/s's produced with single-letter punches typically illustrate misaligned and poorly-spaced letters. One of the biggest problems with the c/s books is that many of the reported issues were not therein pictured. Thus, present day collectors cannot always be assured that they have have the same issue recorded by Brunk. Online auction archives like Heritage, Stack's, etc. do help compensate, yet their attributions may be incorrect at times.

Given the paucity of info about c/s's at large, seriously collecting them is a challenge. That said, it's long been what attracts me to this genre ... the opportunity to explore uncharted waters, so to speak. Indeed, one of my better attributions was the 1874 dated SAGE'S CANDY COIN c/s's (see google). Surname aside, there's likely no direct connection to the subject coin.

@ExoGuy: Lots of good info, thank you. I did come across Sage's Candy Coin while searching for this one. That was your attribution? Neat.

Minted Masonic "pennies" and tokens I am aware of--these are the wholesale manufacture ones you speak of? As this counterstamped one new to me, I'll put this aside for a while until I can research it a bit more.

@halfamind: That's a quick transition. Must be a big push for the small cents' adoption, or the large cents got hoarded based on the quantity still surviving.

Great pointers of what to look for and how to research things. Yes, I do wish old catalogues come with images too, but we make do with what we have. Thank you so much, and best of luck with your endeavours!