I finally found "The Money We Want" Morgan Dollar political item!!

[BillJones]

 

I have been trying to buy this 1896 pro William Jennings Bryan political piece for about three years. I had seen it in a few auctions, but every time it was offered people bid it up to unrealistic levels, like more than $300. The piece is scarce, and it is much scarcer than the gold dollar piece that supporters of William McKinley issued. Still it is not worth several hundred dollars IMO. Finally I located this one at the recent American Political Items Collectors' convention that was held in Columbus, Ohio. It is a neat coin related political item, and here its gold dollar counterpart.

 

 

For those who are not familiar with the "free silver" issue which dominated the 1896 presidential election campaign, Donkey Party candidate, William Jennings Bryan, ran on the concept that silver should be monetized and coined into (mostly) silver dollars on an unlimited basis assuming that 16 parts of silver were equal in value to one part of gold. At the time there was a glut of silver on the market because large quantities of the metal were being mined in the western states. In reality the price ratio between the two metals was more like 32 to 1.

 

Cutting though the political smog, the issue was that debtors were looking to inflate the monetary system so that they could pay back their loans with cheaper dollars. Beyond that there were justified fears that a massive increase in the money supply from the free coinage of silver would result in massive inflation that would wreck the American monetary system. Bryan ran a great campaign, but he was out spent probably by a ratio of 10 to one of more. Today most any economist who is worth his salt would say that Bryan's policies would have been disastrous for The United States economy.

 

[e1cnr]

cool, what happened to the Donkey party, did it change its name?

[BillJones]

cool, what happened to the Donkey party, did it change its name?

 

If you use the proper name for the Donkey Party on these boards you get this: Democratic Party.

 

WOW! Now I've learned something. That got trough. Lets try this: .

 

Okay, now I know you can name the party, but not the people are loyal to it.

 

I think this is first time I've had a conversation with myself here.

[HCumberdale]

Neat pieces Bill, and thanks for the history!

[rrantique]

cool, what happened to the Donkey party, did it change its name?

 

If you use the proper name for the Donkey Party on these boards you get this: Democratic Party.

 

WOW! Now I've learned something. That got trough. Lets try this: .

 

Okay, now I know you can name the party, but not the people are loyal to it.

 

I think this is first time I've had a conversation with myself here.

 

[mkman123]

very cool!

[BillJones]

cool, what happened to the Donkey party, did it change its name?

 

If you use the proper name for the Donkey Party on these boards you get this: Democratic Party.

 

WOW! Now I've learned something. That got trough. Lets try this: .

 

Okay, now I know you can name the party, but not the people are loyal to it.

 

I think this is first time I've had a conversation with myself here.

 

 

Okay lets try this on the Elephant Party - Party.

 

Okay, Elephant Party it is!

[Conder101]

And of course the manufacturer got the money HE wanted by selling buttons to both sides.

[jsilver2th]

Say I don't have a picture of it but there is also a cute Bryan pin or stud in blue on white with a Morgan Dollar.

[BillJones]

Say I don't have a picture of it but there is also a cute Bryan pin or stud in blue on white with a Morgan Dollar.

 

This one?

 

[mintcollector]

 

I have been trying to buy this 1896 pro William Jennings Bryan political piece for about three years. I had seen it in a few auctions, but every time it was offered people bid it up to unrealistic levels, like more than $300. The piece is scarce, and it is much scarcer than the gold dollar piece that supporters of William McKinley issued. Still it is not worth several hundred dollars IMO. Finally I located this one at the recent American Political Items Collectors' convention that was held in Columbus, Ohio. It is a neat coin related political item, and here its gold dollar counterpart.

 

 

For those who are not familiar with the "free silver" issue which dominated the 1896 presidential election campaign, Donkey Party candidate, William Jennings Bryan, ran on the concept that silver should be monetized and coined into (mostly) silver dollars on an unlimited basis assuming that 16 parts of silver were equal in value to one part of gold. At the time there was a glut of silver on the market because large quantities of the metal were being mined in the western states. In reality the price ratio between the two metals was more like 32 to 1.

 

Cutting though the political smog, the issue was that debtors were looking to inflate the monetary system so that they could pay back their loans with cheaper dollars. Beyond that there were justified fears that a massive increase in the money supply from the free coinage of silver would result in massive inflation that would wreck the American monetary system. Bryan ran a great campaign, but he was out spent probably by a ratio of 10 to one of more. Today most any economist who is worth his salt would say that Bryan's policies would have been disastrous for The United States economy.

 

I wish I would have known you were looking! I sold a few of these over the years, mostly recently as early as six to nine months ago. I do not get to spend a lot of time on this side of the forum, as I try to divide my time not only between the currency, coin, and comic book forum of the Collector's Society, but also many other collecting forums I belong to.

 

That being said, I admit these are unique political collectibles well worth pursuing.

 

Nice find!

 

'mint'