The First of Two Items I won in Last Weekend's DeWitt Political Auction
BillJones
Posts: 34,327 ✭✭✭✭✭
I received my two purchases from the DeWitt political sale today. I was hoping to buy more, but the prices were so strong, I simply could not compete. The 25% buyers’ fee meant nothing in this sale. The hammer bids didn’t seem to mean much either. While it was true that some pieces were high quality and were once in a lifetime opportunities for some of us. Some of the lots were not that exceptional and yet they brought beyond top dollar. Fortunately I don’t collect textile pieces (ribbons, bandanas and flags) and political cartoons. Those items brought the strongest bids of all.
Here is the piece I wanted more than any other lot in the sale, the James K. Poke medalet with the direct reference to Texas statehood on the reverse. It is listed in DeWitt as JP 1844-5 Texas was a huge issue in the 1844 presidential election. It ruined the political careers of Poke’s opponents and enhanced his chances in the general election.
Martin Van Buren was president from 1837 to 1841. He lost to William Henry Harrison in 1840 largely because of the Panic of 1837 which was the worst economic depression in the 19th century. The Whig Party also conducted a vigorous campaign to get Harrison elected and issued thousands of political tokens on his behalf.
Van Buren was the frontrunner for the 1844 Democratic Party nomination, but as soon as he opposed the admission of Texas, the Democrats walked away from the him. Henry Clay, the 1844 Whig nominee tried to straddle the issue by opposing Texas statehood and then supporting it. Those moves would hurt him in the general election. Polk supported Texas statehood from the beginning.
Why was Texas so controversial? First, admitting Texas as slave state upset the balance between free and slave states in Congress. The Compromise of 1820 had been based around the fact that the admission of Missouri as a slave state was balanced by the admission of Maine as a free state. The tug was war continued over the next 20 + years and beyond until the Civil War. Second, the admission of Texas brought the strong possibility of war with Mexico. The Texans had won their independence from Mexico, and Mexico wanted it back.
The election hinged on the State of New York, as it often did in the 19th century. New York had more electoral votes than any other state. Clay, because his straddle position on Texas, lost votes to a third party abolitionist candidate, which threw the state to Polk.
Therefore you can see how historically important the Texas issue was which explains why I wanted this token. Previously the only piece I had that mentioned Texas was this shell token which as a “T” with a star in the middle of it one the reverse.
If there is any interest, I'll take about my previous encounters with this token over the last 10 years.
Comments
I don’t collect tokens, but I’m glad you were able to obtain pieces you’ve been hunting. Thanks for sharing. Threads like this embody the real spirit behind the hobby.
Bill--Love hearing these stories and the background! Keep 'em coming.
Tom
Excellent finds/purchases. Glad you were able to get what you wanted.
I agree; it's always nice to see someone attain a piece they are really passionate about.
Same. Although not in my wheelhouse, it is refreshing to see someone successful in their passionate pursuit.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Not a token collector either but I most definitely enjoy the phenomenal coins and tokens you share... Keep picking up new items and sharing with the forum.
Mark
Great pieces Bill! It's awesome that you were able to get some nice pickups from John Doyle DeWitt's collection!
Amazing auction with a second part to look forward to.
Please do! Your posts always have great history in them and I personally find them great to read!
Very historically significant piece. Congrats.
I just saw this Heritage press release indicating the sale topped $1.8 million!
https://www.ha.com/heritage-auctions-press-releases-and-news/heritage-auctions-j.-doyle-dewitt-collection-event-tops-1.8-million.s?releaseId=4441
The press release discusses James Polk, indicating rarity for the President that your two pieces were issued for.
This is a wonderful combination of passion, history lesson, exonumia and politics all wrapped up in a well illustrated and well written post. There is always more interest, on the part of many of us, for threads such as this.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
One of the reasons coins,tokens, etc. are important. Many times they provide a gateway to historical information, such as the posters example.
@BillJones ... Thanks for a great post and contextual history. I always enjoy your posts and learn from them. Cheers, RickO
Hi Bill,
It's very exciting to pick up a piece or two that you have been chasing for a decade or more. I know how excited you must be. I know I would be ecstatic.
I would be interested in hearing your previous encounters with that token over the last 10 years. Thanks for sharing your experience and the back story behind the pieces that you present. Your posts are always informative and educational.
Thanks, Donato
Donato's Complete US Type Set ---- Donato's Dansco 7070 Modified Type Set ---- Donato's Basic U.S. Coin Design Set
Successful transactions: Shrub68 (Jim), MWallace (Mike)
According to DeWitt, the Democrats put a clause in their party platform that they would not insult the people by issuing "campaign trinkets." This was in reaction to the flood of tokens, ribbons and paper that the Whigs issued in 1840 for the William Henry Harrison campaign. The Democrats continued this policy in 1848 when they nominated Lewis Cass. After Cass lost, they backed off on that policy.
As a result, the Democrats issued only a small number of James K. Polk items in 1844. All Polk items, that were issued in 1844, are scarce to rare. In the 19th century, one measure of a "great collection" was the number of James Polk and Lewis Cass political tokens that a collector had. I now have six Polk tokens. This one is interesting because it speaks the "manifest destiny" slogan which called for an "American Empire" that stretched from the Atlantic to the Pacific. This was one of Polk's campaign promises. This piece is a little more common than the variety I just purchased.
I have been looking for most any Polk token I could find for over 20 years. I first saw an example of the piece I recently acquired at an American Political Items Collectors (APIC) convention in 2014. The piece was quite dark, and I thought that the asking price, $750, was too high. The next one I spotted was in the Drave Frent Auction that Heritage held a few years ago. Frent was very active dealer in APIC. I lost interest in it when I saw much of the detail on the all-important (to me) reverse was damaged and missing. It sold for a little less than $700.
Heritage had sold another one that had a lot of green stuff, which was probably PVC, on it. I had been blind sided with a group of Lincoln pieces I bought in an auction that were covered with PVC. The previous collector had left the tokens in the original holders from an auction house, and the holders had broken down. Fortunately I was able to remove the stuff, and the tokens were not damaged. I didn't want to temp fate again.