Is This A Civil War Token? Pics Fixed

Over many decades of collecting tokens now, I've not before encountered this one, so I'm inclined to suspect it is not so common as the books may say. Then too, southern tokens do tend to be more in demand than their counterparts on the other side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

While this one is not listed as a CWT, there are some 1859-60 dated tokens that are listed as CWT's. I've long felt that the CWT series should be more inclusive. There are a great many interesting tokens, having some connection to the Civil War, that don't fit comfortably into the CWT series. Yet, such pieces are telling of the times.

I maybe did not word my previous post very well.

I was wondering if CWT's had to be made during e civil war to be
considered CWT's.

After reading the link posted by nss-52, I feel I would keep this token
with my other CWT's.

Guilty!

As Exo pointed out...




My answer came from literature.... He is the seasoned collector of Early Tokens!


Like I said Nice Token!

NSS-52 ... Thanks for posting the link on Aaron Packard's article. I likely once read that at some time or another, as I've visited his fine website many times. He's a great researcher!




There are some CWT's, dated 1860, that have been grandfathered into the CWT series. Here's one ...





I'm a great admirer of Russ Rulau's works on tokens. He researched and wrote ever so much, and I often simply thumb through his books, refreshing my memory. That said, there were errors and holes in what he wrote, as Mr. Rulau was dependent upon ever so many contributors. I felt honored to simply be listed as such.




Surprisingly, there are known mintage figures for a minute percentage of tokens from that era, such as some struck by Bolen and Merriam. The rarity of virtually all CWT's is based upon estimates. The Fuld's did a great job with their rarity estimations, but there were some glaring errors; this, as can well be expected what with the listings of thousands of tokens! Then too, the discovery of small hoards of tokens have occasionally caused a rare token to become less rare.




Thanks, Amida. Seasoned, approaching pickled, I am!

Note the die break that virtually divides this "Wealth of the South" token. I find it ironic, foreboding, that our country was to be divided the following year.

"By definition" Civil War tokens are limited to pieces dating from 1861 to 1864. The 1861 date marks when the war began. The 1864 date marks when the Union Government made it illegal to use them in commerce.

BUT there was a big exception as someone alluded to the Wealth of the South token. There was actually a series of these tokens, and the Wealth of the South varieties are the best known. The others are a set of presidential campaign tokens that were issued for the four 1860 presidential candidates - Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Bell and John Breckenridge.

To confuse things the dies were sold or transferred to another token maker and restrikes were made after the collector. Most collectors don't seem to overly concerned by that.

Here is an example of an 1860 Lincoln Wealth of the South token. This one is pretty rare because of the reverse. I am quite certain that this piece was issued and used during the 1860 presidential campaign because of the hole and the slogan on the reverse.




Most of these tokens come with this reverse, "The President's House."

The Civil War tokens guys call ALL of the 1860 tokens whose dies were cut by Benjamin True and later restruck and muled by John Stanton, "Wealth of the South." I don't know why, and I agree with you that it is inaccurate, but they do.

As for the Lincoln / "No Submission to North" token, I won't give you five cents for it as a political / historical item; it's just plain stupid. I would sell it for a profit however, just to show that I am "a greedy capitalist."

There are many cent sized Lincoln CWT varieties. I have a complete obverse set of them, but I don't collect all of the reverse variations which are many, and I don't collect the off-metal pieces.

Here is one dated 1860 you might not have seen. It is rare. The claim is that the mintage was 10 pieces, but I would not hang my hat on that.