Civil War Token Questions

[BKW]

 

I just started getting into CWTs and had a couple of questions I was hoping someone could answer for me:

 

1. Many store cards have their trade value on the coin (usually 1 cent), but many do not. Were the tokens with no values printed on them worth anything in trade? Were the "valueless" tokens simply assumed to be worth 1 cent in trade?

 

2. Similarly, did the patriotic tokens have any trade value?

 

Thanks in advance for the assistance.

[Conder101]

Most CWT's both Storecard and Patriotic changed hands for 1 cent based on their size. The ones that passed at higher amount were larger and tended to be marked with their value I believe.

[BillJones]

The general assumption was that the vast majority of CWTs were used as cents. They represented a stop gap measure that allowed merchants to have something to use as a medium of exchange. Any silver tokens would have been plucked from circulation, like the standard Union coins, and most any claim that a piece was worth more than a cent, without a redemption statement on it, would have been largely rejected.

 

There is a fair number of tokens that were “good fors” which could be traded for a good or service if they were taken back to the issuing merchant. Many of these tokens of these tokens are scarce. My theories are (1) the merchants did not issue that many of them because they didn’t want to obligated to give away that much free stuff, and (2) merchants who issued these pieces probably destroyed a goodly number of them so that they would not fall into unintended hands later.

 

The vast majority of these pieces were lighter than their government cent counterparts. This was another way to keep them in circulation, and it also kept the costs down for the merchants who issued them.

 

At any rate CWT makers avoided using the word “CENT” in their designs because they did not want to run afoul of the counterfeiting laws. Many patriotic tokens and few merchant pieces resemble the Indian cents of the period, but care was taken to avoid saying that they were cents. One dodge that you will see are slogans like “Not One Cent,” “Our Cent,” “Pay the Bearer One Cent” and the funniest of all “Good for a Scent”

 

Here are some examples:

 

5 Cents good for a glass of beer. This is a rare token.

 

 

"Value me as you pleas" (sic) This is a very scarce token that is hard to find even this nice.

 

 

A rare Frederick Miller token that was good for a glass (glas) of beer.

 

 

A rare token with the dog and "Good for a Scent." The reverse with the dog can be found on more common pieces, but the market prices for this type have gone up like crazy.

 

 

And finally the phrase "OUR CENT" with a design that resembles an Indian cent. Note that the reverse could be taken as "ONE CENT" with three letters on top and four below if one looks at it quickly. This token is rare and hard to find nice. I think that this piece was plated at one point which explains the rough surfaces.

 

 

Don't get discouraged. I only showed some rarer pieces here that you are not likely to see at most shows. There are many common pieces that have clever ways to give them some value.

[BKW]

Thanks for the info guys; very helpful.

 

Those are some great tokens Bill - especially the beer ones (now I want one ).

 

I just picked up my first one this week. It is from my home state of NJ which appealed to me. The graders at NGC must have never heard of Perth Amboy, NJ because they labeled the slab as "Pamboy, NJ" instead of "P. Amboy, NJ."

 

 

 

[Dudley the 1st]

Some very nice CWT's Bill. Thanks for sharing them.

[BillJones]

Here is another "good for" CWT. It was good for a cigar at the Skidmore Hotel which was located in Seneca Falls, NY. The hotel had "gentleman's lounge" (19th century man cave) when men could read the latest newspapers, smoke, play billiards and probably drink without any women around. This is a fairly rare token.

 

 

Here is an interesting link with the Skidmore Hotel peice. This is Fuld patriotic number 256/433 a. New York City die sinker William H. Bridgens produced this piece, which is among the "copperhead" varieties. This is viewed as a pro-Southern piece because it is calling for an immediate end to the war.

 

Note the eagle on the reverse. It is made from the same punch as the Skidmore piece except that the Skidmore token eagle has a cigar added to its beak. This token is only slightly scarce with an R-3 rating.

 

[BKW]

 

 

Thanks again Bill. Your posts are very informative and educational.