Hard Times Tokens - Post Your Images

[dcarr]

I always liked these - some very nice examples shown here !

They don't necessarily have to be old, though

 

 

 

 

[detredwings]

I like this one and may have to pick it up to go with the copper one. Nice work.

[BROADSTRUCK]

I always liked these - some very nice examples shown here !

They don't necessarily have to be old, though

 

 

 

 

That's a wild design dcarr and I too may grab a few of your modern HTT's.

[BROADSTRUCK]

Just imaged this one this morning... Enjoy!

 

Killer Strike for a HT-20.

 

 

(All scuffs are on the holder, not the token)

[bigred33-migration]

The one in the middle, Uncle Scam in copper. Love it!

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

Newp...

 

1837 HT-289 S. Maycock & Co. NYC, NY.

 

 

The obverse die may be the ugliest woman ever, or at least right on par with Eunice and Susan B. Weakly struck as seen on all due to an extreme high relief obverse design which also impacts the worn out reverse centers. I'm extremely happy with this token as the strike is spectacular especially in the hair bun region. Below is the one of the best strikes known, the Dice Hicks / Rulau Plate token for this example which shows how softly struck this token is normally encountered in Unc.

 

 

[Just Bob]

This is the best that I can do with my limited computer skills.

Link to the images:

Obverse

Reverse

[Hard Times]

Nice tokens everyone - Broadstruck, your collection, if you ever put it up for auction, give me a heads up. Next up for me, again going up the HT numbers, is my HT-16. I am actively looking for a replacement. This one I got online with a bad pic, when it arrived, the surfaces were really ugly despite the lofty grade. So silly me, I sent it to NCS for conservation. They made it even uglier in trying to remove whatever was on the surfaces. NGC decided to hold the grade, which is nuts. I would have thought eye appeal counted for something, if this is truly an uncirculated piece, then MS60 tops.

 

Here it is:

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

Nice tokens everyone - Broadstruck, your collection, if you ever put it up for auction

 

Thanks Hard Times, You'll have to wait till I'm 6' under for my collection to go to auction... As I'm not that old, so I hope your patient!

 

But if there's anything your looking for or want to sell just send me a PM.

 

 

 

 

[MercuryMan]

Those are great guys.

Thanks for sharing.

[Dudley the 1st]

Ditto MercMan. Thank you for the stroll into History.

[BROADSTRUCK]

Some Newp's...

 

1838 HT-63 / Low-55 "LOCO FOCO" Mint Drop.

 

 

1838 New York - Am I not a Woman & Sister HT-81 / Low 54

 

 

1834 HT-150 / Low-83 H.M. & E.I. Richards, Attleboro, Mass.

 

 

(Major Haze on Obverse Slab)

[BROADSTRUCK]

A Dreckelicious new token pick-up.

 

1825 Peale's Museum Low-269, HT-303, NY-632, Rarity 5-6, large thick 35 mm copper planchet, struck from a broken obverse die. (For scale a Silver $1 is 38.1 mm in diameter)

 

It was struck during the Hard Times era of 1832-1844 as the date on the obverse only symbolizes the date of establishment. There's not a lot of info on how this token was used, either for a one time entry or as a season pass? I know some of you may look at this posted item and wonder what was I thinking? It's a chuck of Americana with a ton of neat history and I've always liked the obverse design. Although this VF example has a lot of problems, so do the finest in XF or AU. NGC has only certified 1 example in XF-45 and in researching these I only know of about 4-5 examples including this one.

 

Some History:

 

Rubens Peale ran his museum in the Parthenon Building across from the City Hall from 1825 until he sold out to P.T. Barnum in 1843. Peale's Museum was located at 252 Broadway, close to City Hall in Manhattan. The Museum featured an Egyptian mummy and many other historical artifacts to entertain the locals and tourists. These large entrance tokens were occasionally taken home by souvenir hunters, but most were turned in for the price of admission. Rubens Peale came from an important family, his father was the famous painter Charles Wilson Peale, and his brother Franklin Peale who became the Chief Coiner at the Philadelphia Mint.

 

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

HT-M19

 

[Hard Times]

Broadstruck, your HT's continue to astound! Going up my HT numbers, here is my HT-17. A good quality circulated example, I am still looking for a nicer specimen.

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

HardTimes, The HT-17 / Low 59 Webster is rather tough to find nice in high grade.

 

Here's the best I've been able to locate.

 

[Hard Times]

Your HT-17 is another stunner Broadstruck - PM me if you want to sell it..... Here is my HT-18, we are going up the Webster set of HT's, this guy was very productive during the period in cranking out the tokens.

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

HT-M17 William J. Mullen Gold Watch Dial Maker - New York, New York.

 

Struck in high relief it's considered one of the best designed and one of the most interesting of the 19th century merchant's tokens.

 

 

[Hard Times]

Here is my HT-20, the pics don't do justice to the flash on both sides. Planchet roughness is observed in the fields, typical of many HT planchets - or is this die rust? I think the former but I haven't seen enough specimens of each type to make a case for either.

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

Yes most of the HT-20's do suffer from having been struck from rusted dies.

 

Here's a NGC MS64BN struck by rusty dies.

 

1841 HT-20 / Low-62

 

[Hard Times]

Very nice Broadstruck, thems two HT-20's that are nicely struck with good surfaces.

[Hard Times]

Here is my HT-22, the last of my Webster series, I am still working on obtaining the others....

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

1837 Half Cent of Pure Copper HT-73 / Low-49

 

Here's a token that I had written off as I didn't think a fully struck example existed and I wasn't eager to own a crude mushy strike. Normally on everything from the shield up is just a blob of copper with a dent for what's supposed to resemble and eye and same with the claws. My images do not do it justice as this early die stage also has fully proof like fields on the obverse and semi proof like reverse fields. Along with being the best struck example it was also neat to see it was pedigreed to Miller and Litman who formed two of the top collections of HTT's. So on a provenance coolness factor Charles Litman purchased Donald Miller's collection and Donald Miller with the aid of Alexander Dupont purchased George Tilden's collection so this token is traceable to the turn of the century. Meaningless to most all of you but I thought it was a neat bonus as I didn't pay for the pedigree... Just the strike!

 

[Hard Times]

Wow broadstruck, without a doubt that is the best strike I have ever seen on HT-73. Mine is nice, but not close in strike. Especially the feathers on the neck, nice to know such strikes do exist.

[Hard Times]

Going up in HT numbers, here is my HT-33. It is a very nice specimen, exploding in luster, good strike, although a touch soft in a few places - like the turtles head. Note again the surface roughness in the fields that is typical of many HT's. Inspecting other high-end HT-33's shows not the same pattern of surface roughness. That seems to indicate that the roughness is on the planchet, not the die. If so, the planchets were not the best prepared or were rusted prior to striking.

 

This IIlustrious Predecessor series, HT-31 to HT-34 were some of the Anti- Jackson/Van Buren satire tokens issued during the Hard Times. The 'Executive Experiment' was that of establishing the Subtreasury system, represented here as a safe on the turtle's back. The safe is actually meant to represent the slow progress in which this experiment was made, while the running jack*ss on the reverse represents the rapid growth in popularity for Van Buren, which history tells us was doubtful - satirical for sure.

 

The HT-33 is plentiful in all grades.

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

1837 Hard Times token. HT-33, Low-19. Hard Times token. Illustrious Predecessor.

 

This is relatively a newp as I've been looking for a well struck HT-33 in Red/Brown example for close to 4-5 years. I've known of this example for well over a year as it's been off the market for the last 25.

 

Although the HT-34 variety is available in RB, the HT-33 is extremely scarce. This is now the finest of the pop 2/1 at NGC as the MS66RB example I alerted Heritage on a few months ago as it was a wrongly designated HT-34. The other weakly struck MS65RB example sold at Stacks in 2009 in the Richard Gross sale and had no trace of red remaining as it turned a funky lime green, gold and copper spotted color in the holder yet for some reason still fetched an insane amount for a doctored token gone bad.

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

Here's a grouping of my Millions for Defense - Not One Cent for Tribute tokens which replicate the federal struck large cents lacking in circulations at the time.

I have a few others which need to be imaged, yet these represent the finest examples available and are the area of satirical hard times tokens I've been most passionate about completing. The provenance listed with each is meaningless to most unless you collect Hard Times Tokens, Colonials, or Large Cents. Each of the 7 tokens listed below is also top pop at NGC, some by 3 points, and a some only have a total pop of 5 for the example.

 

1837 "Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" HT-42 / Low-28

 

Ex: Dice & Hicks, Griner, Wurtzbach Collections.

 

 

1837 "Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" HT-45 / Low-30

 

Ex: Dice & Hicks, Schuman Collections.

 

 

1837 "Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" HT-46 / Low-31

 

Ex: Sebring Collection, the only known RB example.

 

 

1837 "Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" HT-48 / Low-33

 

Provenance Unknown, but finer then any other HT-48 / Low-33 I've seen or researched.

 

 

1837 "Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" HT-49/50 / Low-34/35

 

Ex: Dice & Hicks, Oechsner, Miller, DuPont, Tilden, Bird Collections.

Also the example of a Low-35 in Edgar Adams 1914 Plates of Lyman Low's Hard Times Tokens.

 

 

1837 "Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" HT-52 / Low-39

 

Provenance Unknown, but a touch finer then the Ex: Dice & Hicks, Steinberg Collection example which I also own.

Although dated 1837 the reverse die is from a 1841 Daniel Webster HT-16/Low-58.

Stack's in 2003 stated: Extremely rare, struck for Charles Ira Bushnell, pioneer cataloger of Hard Times Tokens.

"We note only four auction records in the past 50 years. It is doubtful more than 6 are known."

 

 

1837 "Millions for Defense, Not One Cent for Tribute" HT-58 / Low-69

 

Ex: Dice & Hicks, Steinberg Collections

 

[BROADSTRUCK]

 

1837 Phalon's Hair Cutting New York, NY HT-304 / Low-127

 

Edward Phalon probably began his business as a hair dresser at 161 Chatham Stree in 1834. From then until 1860 he changed location at least 11 times, one address being the 35 Bowery address on the token. In 1842 he was opposite St. Paul's at 214 Broadway, where he sold the "Amazon Toupee" for which (along with his "Wigs and Scalps") the American Institute awarded him a silver medal in 1841, and their first premium in 1842. In 1848 he was at 61 Broadway, where his extensive advertisements touted "Chemical Hair Invigorator." At the height of his prosperity he occupied an elegant shop in the St. Nicholas Hotel, where his prices for services and cosmetics matched the brilliance of the numerous mirrors, gilded frames, marble basins, and silver-plated fixtures which adorned the salon. He he remained until the hotel closed. His "Night Blooming Cereus" was the best known, and last, of his successes before he retired. Low interviewed him in 1886 but Phalon could provide little information about his store card. An 1849 advertisement for Edward Phalon's "Chemical Hair Invigorator" indicated that Phalon opened his 197 Broadway "bathing and hair cutting rooms" in May, 1843.

[BROADSTRUCK]

1841 Daniel Webster HT-16 / Low-58.

 

EX: Litman Collection.

 

 

 

[Hard Times]

Broadstruck, wow on the HT-16, nice....................