Does Anyone Collect Hard Times Tokens

As far as my understanding goes a Hard Times token is any that were minted by non-government mints used for temporary currency during the Civil War era.

Hmmmm

It's an area of collecting that I am new to. Gonna do some more research and get back to ya

Just found this on Wikipedia:

Civil War tokens are token coins that were privately minted and distributed in the United States between 1862 and 1864. They were used mainly in the Northeast and Midwest. The widespread use of the tokens was a result of the scarcity of government-issued cents during the Civil War.

Civil War tokens became illegal after the United States Congress 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.[1]

Civil War tokens are divided into three types—store cards, patriotic tokens, and sutler tokens. All three types were utilized as currency, and are differentiated by their designs. The collectible value of the tokens is determined chiefly by their rarity.

*Wikipedia didn't have a listing for Hard Times Tokens, I'll try elsewhere

Found this on another site:


Hard Times Tokens were made from 1832-1834

Events during the mid to late 1830's led to a great depression. President Andrew Jackson was opposed to the U.S. Second Chartered Bank and thought the banking system to be corrupt and benefited private entities. Jackson withdrew money from the Federal Bank and deposited it in the smaller State Banks. Specie payments were suspended on May 10, 1837. This meant that banks could only receive payments for land purchases only in gold or silver coin. As a result of this "Executive Experiment", paper money and other script, nicknamed "shin plasters", issued by private banks and other individuals became worthless and U.S. coinage was greatly hoarded. Financial panic followed and some banks and industries both large and small and in both the north and south failed. The year of 1837 ended with a very cold winter in which many unemployed people froze or starved to death. This along with the events earlier in the year lead America into the "Hard Times" era.

Privately issued advertising and satirical political tokens, similar in size to the then circulating U.S. large cent coin, became accepted in trade and began to circulate as a substitute for coinage. These tokens often reflected our country's mood and feelings towards the President and the U.S. Government.



The token that you showed is actually a Civil War Token

I didn't know that there were so many different tokens, thanks for the info.

biokemist is correct. Here is a Hard Times Token which is the same size as a large cent. I bought it at an antiques shop in Brattleboro, Vt. several years ago. President Andrew Jackson is on the obverse, holding a sword in his left hand and a bag in his right hand. It says "I take the responsibility". On the reverse is an donkey (representing asinine stubbornness) and the legends "The Constitution as I Understand It", "Roman Firmness" and "Veto" under the donkey. Jackson vetoed the re-charter of the National Bank which eventually led to a severe financial crisis known as the
Panic of 1837, and hence the "Hard Times".




I apologize for the low quality of the scan.