Who made the George Washington "Union" Civil War dog tag (Baker-620, Musante GW-565)?
Zoins
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I've recently been looking into Civil War dog tags and ran across this one with a George Washington Union obverse which I wasn't able to match in my Civil War guides.
Does anyone know for sure who this was made by?
Dave Taylor indicates it may have been struck by Scovill Manufacturing.
Dave Taylor wrote:
10-09-016 - Rare Form Civil War Dog Tag New York Artilleryman: A very handsome George Washington motif brass dog tag likely made by the Scovill Mfg Co. This disc is quite a scarce variant with the reverse being pre-marked with some of the military nomenclature. Reverse stamped “Cor. R.W. Haskins 5th Battalion Co. “B” N.Y. Lt. A. Volunteers Enlisted Aug. 19th 1862”. A quick check of the records finds our man. Corporal Robert W Haskins 5th Battalion NY Light Artillery and then Co. “G” 10th New York Heavy Artillery. He served from 8/13/1862 through 4/29/1864. He must have done something naughty because they busted him down to private in March of 1863. The 10th Artillery was formed by consolidating the 4th, 5th, and 7th Battalions of Artillery late in 1862. The unit served as infantry and saw combat and casualties at Cold Harbor and Petersburg. A very nice CW dog tag. Center of obverse shows that someone at one time thought about drilling a hole in the center of the disc, but then changed his mind. Otherwise about perfect. A very handsome and scarce Civil War dog tag... $950.00
http://www.angelfire.com/oh3/civilwarantiques/sept2010webcat.html
Matthew W. Wittmann wrote an ANS Blog article referencing the following specimens, but not indicating any die sinker.
http://numismatics.org/pocketchange/emancipation-token-sarah-ann-prout/
Of note, the following was issued to W.H. Smith, which reminds me fo the bookstore chain.
- ANS 1967.225.569
mwittmann also shows this token indicating the obverse was used for tokens struck on April 16, 1962, the date Lincoln signed the "Compensated Emancipation Act". April 16th is still celebrated as "Emancipation Day" in Washington D.C. today.
- ANS 0000.999.39579
Here are some more references:
Comments
As a long time Civil War collector and reenactor I have to say: Mr. Taylor has some magnificent items for sale. Truly impressive. Thanks for posting.
The identification tags using this Washington bust (Baker-620, M&S Washington 3B & 3C, Musante GW-565 & 566) were available early in the war but I don't see any distinctive tells that would ascribe them to Scovill. The circle of stars are not indicative of Scovill which tended to keep their rims clean except for legends. Scovill also tended to use five point stars rather than six point but that is not conclusive. One die sinker that pops to mind who used similar circles of six point stars is James D. Lovett of New York.