Army Navy Coin

I've seen this one before! The reverse design was from the Civil War, when small change was in short supply. These are called Civil War tokens (1861-1864), and in the end of the RedBook (p 315 of the 2005 ed) there's a pretty good description of those tokens.

The obverse was also used for the Confederate cent of 1861, except with the legend "Confederate States of America."

It looks real enough, as in it doesn't look cast, but I can not say I am certain.

**Just to add, these were made by private companies or people, and many had much more colorful saying than just "army and navy." The RedBook also says there are over 10,000 different varieties of Civil War tokens.

Civil Wat Token, Fuld Die Combination 0006B-0308a, French Liberty Head Obverse, Value $10 in Fine, $20 in EF, and $40 in MS-63.

I am not an expert, but I have bought a couple civil war tokens of late. I also bought a couple old guides and I am using you as a guinea pig to test my identification skills.


WD has given alot of good info.

What you have is a "Patriotic" civil war token. They also made "store card" civil war tokens that would have local merchant advertisements on it.

According to George and Melvin Fuld (The true experts)

There was a shortage of small cents, due to hording. To fill this void some very entrepreneurial individuals decided to start minting there own small cents, they were able to make them for about 23/100ths of a cent, so they made a handsome profit.

Over 25 Million tokens were minted and were generally accepted by merchants filling the void for the missing cents. A railroad company tried to redeem a large number of these tokens to one of the private mints, which went over like a lead balloon. So the Congress swiftly passed an act in 1864 to make it illegal for any private individuals to issue any type of money.


By using my guide from 1963, I would guess yours is catalog # 11/298a

Which has a rarity level of most common or R1 (> 5000 made) as of 1963, but I saw an ebay listing claiming it is a R4 (between 200 - 500 made). In the condition it is in, I would expect it to sell on ebay for $10-$15.


Hope this helps,

Very informative. Thanks. There were a boatload of coins with this lot. Most of them I recognized. barbers...2 cents.. etc..this one I was stuck on.

Your patriotic Civil War token, not a coin, is copper and looks genuine, not cast. Many copies appeared in the 1960's, marketed during the centennial years. Wholesale dealer buy is $12 for the commons, but the reverse dig is a problem. Neat piece of history in your hands; especially, as we approach the sesqicentennial year of the Civil War.