1862 Emancipation Day Tokens and Civil War Dog Tags (GW-566, Baker-620)
I've recently become interested in 1862 Emancipation Day tokens. These were struck to celebrate Lincoln's signing of the District of Columbia Emancipation Act on April 16, 1862, a precursor to the Emancipation Proclamation. These are cataloged as "GW-566" but seem to have the same obverse as as the Baker-620 dog tag, indicating they may have had the same manufacturer. I did run across one auction house that indicated that Baker-620 may have been struck by Scovill but some have indicated the star design is different than what they usually use.
So far, I've come across just 3 of these tokens. One is struck for Sarah Ann Prout and part of the ANS collection and the other two are stamped Great Joy to our Race. The latter two are slabbed by our host and were found together in a Rhode Island estate collection by an antiques dealer. I don't have any info on who's estate these were from. Can these traced through auction records or via other ways?
Since these were struck during the Civil War, are these considered "Civil War Tokens"?
I'm doing more research on these and the associated Washington Union dog tag so please post any information you have on these
Sarah Ann Prout
I found this in an ANS article by Matt Whittman. This specimen is in the ANS collection cataloged as "0000.999.39579"
"GRATE. JOY. TO. OUR. RACE" GW-566
- Cert Verification: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/35440589
"GRATE JOY TO OURE RACE" GW-566
- Cert Verification: https://www.pcgs.com/cert/35246024
Comments
Here are two additional images from Matt Whittmann's article:
Celebration of Emancipation day in 1866. This is now a Washington D.C. annual holiday.
A Baker-620 Civil War token, also in the ANS collection: