The Marshall House Token - A Little token with an Interesting History

[BillJones]

Although there are far more coin collectors than there are token collectors, many times tokens can be more interesting. There are many interesting stories about U.S. coins, but in many cases once a coin design is established the pieces fall into a routine in which the collectors lines up a series of dates and mint marks, and that is basically it.

 

Tokens and medals on the other hand were often issued for a specific purpose. Therefore if one takes an interest in “micro history” that are many interesting stories that can enhance the collection of these pieces. Here only one of thousands of examples.

 

 

In 1859 an Alexandria, Virginia hotel, The Marshall House, issued a cent sized token to advertise its business. Like many tokens from this era, the piece circulated as a substitute for a cent, but it cannot be called a Civil War token because of its date. By definition all Civil War tokens are dated from 1861 to 1864.

 

The Marshall House became famous nationally because of an event that occurred there on May 24, 1861. That day a detachment of Union troops under the command of Col. Elmer Ellsworth were sent to Alexandria, Virginia, which just across the Potomac River from Washington, DC. Their mission was to chase off Rebel forces that were thought be occupying the town.

 

Ellsworth and his men quickly found that there were no Rebels in sight, but then Ellsworth spotted a Rebel flag flying on a pole on the roof of the Marshall House hotel. Ellsworth entered the building and sprinted up the stairs to remove the offending banner. On his way down the stairs, Ellsworth was met by the proprietor of the hotel, James T. Jackson, who had a shotgun in hand. Jackson who was true blue Rebel blasted Ellsworth killing him instantly. Seeing what had happened, one of Ellsworth’s men, Pvt. Francis Brownell, shot and bayoneted Jackson, killing him in short order.

 

Subsequently Brownell would parley this act into a promotion from private to lieutenant despite that fact that he had only been in volunteer army for a month. Finally after years of lobbying Brownell receive the Congress Medal of Honor in 1877

 

The death of Ellsworth because a national sensation. Prior to the war Ellsworth had been a protégé of President Abraham Lincoln and had been reading the law in Lincoln’s office. At the start of the war Ellsworth, who had had prior military experience, organized the 11th New York Fire Zouaves and became the unit’s colonel.

 

Ellsworth was the first Union officer to die in battle, and he became a martyr. Patriotic envelope covering like this one would be printed, and people would hang portraits of Ellsworth in their living rooms.

 

 

The story has one more interesting twist. The Marshall House token dies were executed by Philadelphia die sinker, Robert Lovett. In 1861 the Confederate Government asked Lovett to produce dies for a Confederate cent. Lovett made the dies and struck a few pieces. Then he got cold feet and hid the dies and then cents in his basement for the duration of the war. Interestingly Lovett's Confederate cent featured the same liberty head has the Marshall House token.

[MunkyMan95]

That's a very cool token, and a great story to go along with it!

[WoodenJefferson]

Bill, anytime I see where you have started a post or have answered in a thread, I know what ever is contained in there is going to be interesting to read...so far, I have not been diappointed.

[rrantique]

Always a very informative and a great post Bill

[Zoins]

Jackson who was true blue Rebel

Nice token and an excellent, informative post Bill! I love that envelope covering, but would Jackson be better called a "true gray Rebel"

 

Also, is there any evidence that Lovett's 1861 pieces were made in 1861 or at the request of the CSA? I asked about the 1861 Lovett cents earlier on these boards. I was told that there's no evidence they were made during the Civil War or at the request of the CSA and that they could be retrospective fantasy pieces. They are still great pieces either way, just curious.

[bsshog40]

Nice history story again Bill. Cool token. I look for these now if I go to flea markets or such in case someone doesn't really know what they are.

[BillJones]

Jackson who was true blue Rebel

Nice token and an excellent, informative post Bill! I love that envelope covering, but would Jackson be better called a "true gray Rebel"

 

Also, is there any evidence that Lovett's 1861 pieces were made in 1861 or at the request of the CSA? I asked about the 1861 Lovett cents earlier on these boards. I was told that there's no evidence they were made during the Civil War or at the request of the CSA and that they could be retrospective fantasy pieces. They are still great pieces either way, just curious.

 

I have read the case that skeptics have questioned the story of how the Confederacy contacted a Philadelphia jewelry firm to have the cents made, which in turn pasted to work on to Lovett. The skeptics from what I can see have even less evidence than those who advanced the story, which I think came from a 19th century coin dealer named Heseltine.

 

I tend to get more credit to the classic story that Lovett made the dies and then lost his nerve. A great many northerners were upset about way the Civil War got in the way of their business. In fact the mayor of the City of New York, Fernando Wood, at one time wanted to secede from the so that they could become an independent nation that could business with both side. Why would we doubt that Mr. Lovett’s motives were any different?

[WinstonWare]

Cool token and great story. Thanks for another fine post

[Zoins]

Here's an interesting story about the Lovett CSA cents that I ran across a while ago:

In 1861, an official of the Confederate States of America contacted Bailey & Co. of Philadelphia concerning supplying one cent pieces for the Confederacy. Bailey & Co. commissioned Robert Lovett, a well known medalist and token maker from the same city who had previously designed a cent sized token featuring the profile of "Miss Liberty," as the person to design the new CSA coin and make the dies. Lovett adopted his "Miss Liberty" head for the obverse of a cent, with CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA surrounding the profile and the date below. The reverse design was in the form of a wreath with a bale of cotton below on which was the initial of the engraver, L. Within the wreath was "1 CENT." Lovett struck 12 pattern pieces in copper-nickel, the alloy being used at the time to make United States Indian Head cents. Fearing treason charges from Union authorities for aiding the Confederacy, he cancelled the project and hid the 12 coins until after the War when he carried around one of the coins as a pocket piece. In 1873, Lovett, who was now an alcoholic, spent the Confederate cent by mistake in a Philadelphia bar. The bartender recognized the piece as being unusual, and showed it to a few individuals who who eventually made contact with John Haseltine. Haseltine bought the coin and contacted Robert Lovett to buy any remaining coins. Lovett denied any knowledge of the coin until one evening when he was “drunk and goaded beyond endurance, confessed all….” At this point, Lovett unearthed the remaining coins and dies and sold the entire lot to Haseltine. Haseltine took the dies to Peter Kinder of Philadelphia to make restrikes of the Confederate cent. After seven gold, twelve silver, and 54 copper restrikes had been made, the dies broke on the 55th copper strike. No copper-nickel alloy restrikes were made to preserve the integrity of the original dozen coined by Lovett. For years the dies were thought to have been destroyed but in 1961 they surfaced in the hands of Robert Bashlow, a New York City coin dealer. The obverse die had been defaced by hammer blows and the reverse by chisel cuts. Bashlow had August C. Frank & Co. of Philadelphia make transfer dies and strike 30,156 copies in a variety of metals in time for the Civil War centennial. Known as the Bashlow "second restrikes," they are the final run of Confederate cents. Following his 1961 production strikes, Bashlow donated both dies to the Smithsonian Institute where they currently reside.

If this is true, Haseltine bought the dies and 12 coins from Lovett in 1873 and set about making restrikes, presumably for profit. In this case, Haseltine wouldn't be a disinterested party and his pieces would have generated more interest by saying they were restrikes and the dies had been used to strike some original CSA commissioned coins. If Lovett was really an alcoholic in 1873, who knows what his motives might have been, especially with enough drink and suggestion, which seem to work on him in general according to the story. The story might be true or it might not, I'm just pointing out the fact that Haseltine is not a disinterested party, which some might find important if he is the sole source of the story. Has anyone aside from Haseltine corroborated this story?