HistoryBuffalo

Hi all,

Just picked up my first sutler token. I’d been on the hunt for an artifact from the American Civil War as many of my historical interests lie there. I looked at various areas of items and artifacts before settling on the token.

I find sutler tokens to be tremendous pieces of history… The fact that a soldier used this token during war and exchanged it with his sutler for the 54th Pennsylvania Volunteers so that he could procure items to make military life more bearable and comfortable is fascinating. If only the token could talk… who held it, what fields of battle has it seen, what was it exchanged for? We will never know but the fact that it survived and made it through the war is astounding and it certainly has a story to tell!

After digging, I was also able to find information pertaining to the sutler himself in Joseph A. Garman. From what I’ve read, Garman was from Stoystown Pennsylvania and was born around 1810-1815. He was also a member of the Somerset Lodge #84 A. Y. M. of the Odd Fellows. On the outset of war, Garman was contracted to be the sutler for the 54th PA Vols. Garman served as sutler until his capture by Confederate forces on May 2, 1864 while attempting to procure supplies in Martinsburg, West Virginia for his men. In fact there is a letter from President Lincoln to General Ethan A. Hitchcock requesting information and updates regarding Garman’s whereabouts and well-being as he had not been heard from since May 19th. Garman would end up being paroled or exchanged from a Confederate prison sometime either in 1864 or 1865. Apparently he succumbed to injuries and poor health sustained in the prison and died only a few days after. It is also noted that after Garman’s death, the charter for his Odd Fellow Lodge was lost as well and disappeared.

Although I acquired the coin due to its history and unique connection to the American Civil War, I am curious as to it’s value if anyone might be able to shed some light for me? It is graded NGC AU 53 and I was able to pick it up for $300 even, which I thought was a good deal for a sutler such as this and in this grade. I tried to do my best research, however, I’m still very much in the dark.

Attached below are images of the token:

Hi all,

First post on the NGC forums after reading for a while, so happy to be here! I just picked up my first big coin after becoming a newly minted (no pun intended) college graduate and earning my bachelors degree in history. My studies focused on early United States history and focused on the Revolutionary War era stretching back to the late 1730s and into the beginning of the 19th century.

Ever the history student, I had been satisfying my innate curiosity when I learned about the fugue cent and its fascinating history. Please feel free to share other examples, but I can't think of many other early United States coins that have such a story and as many historical factors associated with it! For instance, it is the only United States federal coin issued under the Articles of Confederation, was designed in part by Benjamin Franklin and struck and produced as the Constitution was being debated and ratified by the states. In addition it has been reported that the copper from which the coins were struck came from copper bands which held together barrels of gunpowder sent over from the French during the Revolutionary War. I have also read that due to the coin's colorful and troubled production history with James Jarvis, it led in part to the establishment of the U.S. Mint in order for the Government to have a stricter and better regulated way to produce National currency. To me, this is all utterly fascinating!

As you can bet, I really worked my magic to try and procure an example. Now for me, the history is the most important factor, not necessarily grade or value. Being the novice that I am, my head started to spin upon seeing the various examples and prices... oh the prices! I tried doing my best due diligence to find a graded example but wasn't too pleased with what I would be getting getting for around $300 and the pickings were quite slim. That's when upon sharing my enthusiasm for history and excitement about the fugio cents with a fellow collector, I was offered an extremely generous deal on an example. The coin was extremely low grade at "VF DETAILS" and carried with it a notation of "environmental damage" but regardless, it was a fugio. Even better was that it was of the "United States" variety rather than of the "STATES UNITED" which I enjoy. On top of that, the major details are present as is its undisputed authenticity which was by far the most important factor.

The coin is now the cornerstone of my registry set add first graded coin I've picked up and I'm super excited to share it here in my debut post! With that said, I do have a few questions about the coin... what exactly might the environmental damage be on this coin? Also, I noticed cracks running diagonally along the reverse of the coin. Would this be due to a planchet flaw/crack or something else entirely and relate to the environmental damage?

Thanks for reading!