Unidentified Token----Need Help Please

The only thing I can say it's about the Civil War. The war in 1864 was close to its end, and this could be either early celebration or a kind of propaganda.

It is a Civil War token used to make up for a lack of circulating coinage during the war, it is the same size and composition as a period IHC. They were privately minted and come in two different varieties- store cards that advertised a particular business and ones with a patriotic theme like yours. Many are quite common but there are plenty of rare varieties.

Hi Tim,

I am a novice...but I do have the George and Melvin Fuld guide from 1965. And I do quite enjoy trying to identify these little buggers. What you have as stated is a Patriotic Civil War Token. There are also "Store Card" CWTs that have store info on them.

The one on ebay if it is a 52/342 which signifies the dies used on the token is actually a more common token (a R-1 in CWT slang meaning over 5,000 known to exist). The indian side is the 52 and the union forever side is the 342. The 52 die was used with 4 different reverses and several different metal types. I think the one on ebay is selling high because of the condition.

Yours on the other hand, though similar design is not the same. From what I can see in my guide, compared to the 342, your shield is slightly smaller, also there is no star to the right of 1864 and the left star is very faint. Also the indians head dress has two small beads on the bottom row near the back of the head that are pronounced so I don't think it is the 52 obverse either.

I might be wrong, but I think yours is a Fuld#54/344 which actually was a R-3 in 1965 which means there were only 500 TO 1,999 known to exist.

This would make it slightly more valuable than it's 52/342 cousin in the same condition.

Someone with a more current catalog may be able to give you the current rarity scale on this one if they catch this post. With such low mintages a small hoard or a couple hundred being identified because of the internet can change a civil war token from a R-something to a R-1 or 2 real quick.

Hope I helped a little.

Ken