A Solid Celluloid Political Token

BillJones

Here is a token that made of a very unusual material, sold celluloid. This piece came from the 1876 presidential campaign. It shows Democrat, Samuel J. Tilden on the obverse and his running mate, Thomas Hendricks on the reverse. This experiment did not last for very long. The material was too brittle to be used in this way. These pieces were issued in five colors, amber, coral (this piece), red, black and yellow.

Celluloid made a triumphant encore in 1896 when thin sheets of it were used to protect the paper on the campaign buttons that became very common that year. The celluloid button would pretty much replace the political in campaigns after that.

The 1876 presidential election would be one of the most contentious political contests in our nation’s history. The results were disputed for months and were finally settled by a party-line vote just before Inauguration Day. I’ll get into the details later, if you like.

Here is an example of a celluloid button.

291fifth

To get that much relief on both sides it must be rather thick. Do the portrait busts project above the rim?

BillJones

@291fifth said:
To get that much relief on both sides it must be rather thick. Do the portrait busts project above the rim?

The portraits are higher than the rim.

ricko

"The 1876 presidential election would be one of the most contentious political contests in our nation’s history." It seems political dissent is not just of the modern times...and likely not much worse now than in past contentious elections. Cheers, RickO

BillJones

Here is the Hays - Wheeler version of the celluloid disk. The official color of this piece is "red."

Namvet69

I wonder if anyone used bakelite for tokens and medals? Peace Roy

thebeav

Those are very nice. I've never seen them before.

kaz

Very interesting tokens and history, as always, Bill.

DNADave

@Namvet69 said:
I wonder if anyone used bakelite for tokens and medals? Peace Roy

Absolutely.
Here's a super rough pic from this junk tablet of my coal scrip book. The colored set is Bakelite.

tyler267

Billjones you post some interesting items and start some interesting threads.

Thanks

Paradisefound

They must be high grade celluloid to last over a decade without any sign of fatigue. Thank you for sharing

BillJones

@Paradisefound said:
They must be high grade celluloid to last over a decade without any sign of fatigue. Thank you for sharing

It's a little more than a decade. It's 142 years.

Timbuk3

Interesting items, thanks for sharing !!!