54 Pennsylvania Volunteers Civil War Sutler Token… 2 2

[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:

Edited July 1, 2022 by HistoryBuffalo

[Just Bob]

Checking the last 4 sales on Heritage auctions, I came up with:

2/1/15, NGC MS62, $285.50

6/6/10, NGC MS62, $322.00 - NGC MS62, $460.00 - NGC MS63, $402.50

The only AU53 that I found was back on 2/7/2010 that sold for $253.00.

According to Ebay sold listings, your coin was sold yesterday (6/29/22 at 1:27 PM) for $499. plus shipping.

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by Just Bob

[HistoryBuffalo]

On 6/30/2022 at 9:07 PM, Just Bob said:

Checking the last 4 sales on Heritage auctions, I came up with:

2/1/15, NGC MS62, $285.50

6/6/10, NGC MS62, $322.00 - NGC MS62, $460.00 - NGC MS63, $402.50

The only AU53 that I found was back on 2/7/2010 that sold for $253.00.

According to Ebay sold listings, your coin was sold yesterday (6/29/22 at 1:27 PM) for $499. plus shipping.

 

Thanks for letting me know! I had received an offer on the token, hence the difference between the shown price of $499 and my paid $300. It seems like what I paid was right in line with some of those other examples and compared with the 2010 sale of the AU53, $47 dollars doesn’t seem like such a bad price increase to have to fork over considering over a decade separates the two sales. Regardless, I think that sutler tokens are still undervalued when considering the role they played in the life of a soldier during one of the most tumultuous times in the history of the United States in the Civil War.

I appreciate you posting those sale records for me!

Edited July 1, 2022 by HistoryBuffalo

[RWB]

Very good post and information. For new collectors, you might want to add a little about what a "sutler" was.

[HistoryBuffalo]

On 7/1/2022 at 10:16 AM, RWB said:

Very good post and information. For new collectors, you might want to add a little about what a "sutler" was.

Thank you and definitely! I’ve added some info about sutlers below…

Sutlers would follow a unit or regiment during the Civil War and they were essentially merchants that had entered into a contract to sell non-military issued personal goods and provisions such as candy, writing supplies, games, food, toiletries etc. The soldier would give the sutler his pay and in exchange get these tokens in to pay for goods from his store or keep as change for his next purchase.

Often sutlers would up charge on items or hold a soldier’s pay due to the dangers of working within a combat area. Nevertheless, sutlers were often unpopular among the men and even subject to raids by soldiers on their supply tents and stores, often while the commanders or superiors would sit back without intervening. Therefore the sutlers were often remembered unfavorably following the war and few tokens survived or were kept as souvenirs and most of them were likely discarded. Not to mention the tokens were circulating in camps and carried into battle, making their loss and disappearance much more common.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2022 by HistoryBuffalo

[Quintus Arrius]

Excellent recitation of the salient facts and back history. Having never heard of sutlers prior to your topic post, I wonder if they were overlooked, forgotten, unrecognized and unappreciated. The 1837 Feuchtwanger cent and three-cent pieces, neither of which I have ever owned, caught and held my eye. I wonder now whether some of these low-key pieces were consigned to "bargain boxes" in coin shops and whether I would have recognized their possible historical value. There were stacks of Civil War-era "Harper's Weekly" papers in antique shops back in the 1960's and their apparent ready availability diminished their importance in my then teen-aged eyes. I am guessing metal-detectors are not permitted on historic grounds. That's where a lot of history lies buried. Great find!

[RWB]

The English were among the first permanent North American sutlers. But that's why Roanoke Colony failed -- the sutlers got here and found the natives did not want to buy stuff and further had no money, as the English thought of it. The English sutlers stayed over winter hoping there were bigger fools inland, but that wasn't true, so they carved people's names on rocks and swam home .... Or so it is written in the foxxes breaking gnuz.

[Quintus Arrius]

@HistoryBuffalo...

FYI:  The following item which may be of interest is set to be auctioned off in mid-August as part of the "Certified American Tokens & Medals" Heritage Auction. 

G C F   50   Sutler

(1861-1865) G.C.F.

5th NY Volunteers

Civil War Sutler Token

S&I - NY - 5 - 50L

R.9,  MS62  NGC

Note:  It was only by dint of luck, having read your thread, that my eye caught this piece.