My very first token

[Conderluva]

I thought I had lost this long ago but it turned up this summer while preparing to move.   Finally got around to taking pics.  It's a humble looking thing but is very special because it is the first token that I ever owned, and It was bought for me by my grandmother.  Think I  was around 8 years old.  I remember spending what seemed like hours just staring at the thing and holding it in my hand... imagination running wild.  Love you Grandma!

[FilthyBroke]

Cool!  I may still have an old cwt somewhere around here, too.   Growing up not far from Gettysburg, we had a LOT of civil war history in school.   Quite an intersting era, and neat area of numismatics.

 Now you need to find the "spoot" variety.  

[coinsarefun]

I know how it feels to have something from a family member that you are very close too.
Glad that you found it because it is worth its weight in gold.......if not even more

Hold it close and dear to your heart!


Stefanie

[regandon]

Very nice historical Token you've got there. Grandmothers are great, it was my grandmother that got me started into coin collecting as a way to learn history.

[Larry]

Yours is a nice example, Mike, and a great story about Grandma getting you started in collecting.  : )
A man in Missouri got me started, in about 1952.  Then mom helped at Christmas each year, with proof sets, etc.

If genuine, I'm pretty sure it is Patriotic Civil War Token 212/415a.
On Flickr it says copy in the title.  I am a bit confused by that.

Here's another example of the 212/415a token variety.
Civil War Tokens and Store Cards have appreciated 2-3 times in the past 12 years or so.
Only Conder Tokens are appreciating faster, in my opinion,
but I believe both CWT's and Conders appreciate faster than any coins.  ; )

[Conderluva]

That's one superb specimen, Larry!  Your collection of CWTs is spectacular!!!

Thanks also for the info on the token.   I don't have a CWT reference--do you have any additional info on the piece?

As for the 'copy'  it was added to the file name when I saved it in PS as jpeg.  I didn't bother to change it when added to flickr.

[Larry]

Got it.  Thanks, Mike. 

Since you've clarified that it is not a copy, I did more looking at your image and found that both sides of your token differs from mine.

So I studied the plate photos in Fuld Patriotic Civil War Tokens and now believe your variety is actually 209/410a (R3).  The 'a' is for copper, and R3 is the rarity.  It took considerable analysis to figure out the differences and arrive at this, my tentative attribution.  There are a lot of similar varieties of obverse and reverse dies.  : )

The manufacturer was the Waterbury Button Company of Waterbury CT, which is also listed as the die sinker in this case, and for most all of the similar varieties.

This is from wikipedia's page on Civil War Tokens...

Among the best-known varieties of patriotic tokens are the so-called "Dix tokens." They are named for John Adams Dix, who served as Secretary of the Treasury in 1861. In a letter from Dix to a revenue cutter captain, Lieutenant Caldwell, he orders Caldwell to relieve another cutter captain of his command for refusing an order to transfer from New Orleans to New York. The letter ends with the following sentence: "If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot." The quote found its way to a number of patriotic tokens, albeit with a slightly modified wording ("haul down" is usually replaced by "tear it down").


NOTE:  My toned token shown above is a 212/415a (R2) in MS62.

[BCNumismatics]

Those are very nice coins that you have got there.

As they are the same size as an American 1 Cent,they were used as coins.

I have seen very few American Civil War currency tokens turn up over here in New Zealand.

Aidan.

[Larry]

Yes, Aidan, most Civil War Tokens are about the same size as U.S. small cents, about 19mm in diameter.
There are some that are larger, up to 25mm or so.
Very few tokens were for any denomination other than one cent.
A wide variety of metals were used: copper, brass, silver, lead, German silver, tin and zinc.
Copper tokens were far more plentiful than those struck in other metals.

While they were used as currency, they were certainly 'tokens,' and not 'coins' struck by a national government.
All collectors should be able to understand and acknowledge the clear difference, widely accepted.
I see you referred to them as 'tokens' in one place in your post.  Good.  : )

The difference between store cards and patriotic CWT's is that a store card identifies a particular business.
Often, their advertising was placed on only one side (by definition the 'obverse') and a more generic design
was used for the reverse.  Occasionally we find store cards on which both sides were prepared specifically
for one merchant.

Regarding NZ, I'd almost bet that there are CWT collectors in New Zealand. 
They can use ebay can't they?  Some may be naturalized kiwis, formerly from the U.S.
The tokens may not have reached there by circulation but by collectors sending or bringing them to NZ.  : )

There might not be a great number of CWT collectors there though, but I'd guess at least 100 of them
that have at least one example, probably as a curiosity. Surely there must be some active CWT collectors,
too, just as I suspect there are collectors of Conder Tokens there in NZ.  It's small world these days.

I'll ask a CWTS board member I know on CoinZip if he is aware of any collectors in NZ or members of CWTS.