Any one have any Sutler's Tokens they can show?
MWallace
Posts: 4,148 ✭✭✭✭✭
I have only begun learning about Sutler's tokens from the Civil War. At this point I know very little. Does anyone have one or some they can show?
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Try searching it.
Here's a couple of old links.
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/991743/sutler-token-3rd-michigan-cavalry
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1035374/set-completed
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
I have!! I just thought it would be nice to see some owned by board members. I mean, maybe I'm wrong, but isn't that what this board is about?
Here is my complete set of denominations for the 23rd Regiment of Massachusetts:
They are all from the John J. Ford, Jr. Collection.
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
I knew you'd show up. Awesome set. Thanks for sharing.
People know me. I have a little bit of everything.
Here are few pieces. All sutler tokens range in rarity from scarce to rare.
Harvey Lewis is fairly common for a Sutler token.
This one is rather crude and rare.
This one as a Zouave unit connection.
When I lived in New England, I collected as many New England CWT items as I could, but that ended when I moved to Florida.
I too collect a little bit of everything. Thanks for sharing your Sutler tokens.
An interesting fact about all of these tokens is that they were made from the same main die pair. The denomination in the center is a small drop-in die that Joseph Merriam used to give the tokens a value
Merriam did the same thing with the Tuttle's Restaurant CWT set which also had four denominations.
Of course these are the Merriam dies, which are the most popular, especially the dog.
I love military tokens in general, and if I had the money I'd move into collecting Sutlers. They can get prohibitively expensive.
But seriously, what could be cooler regarding numismatics during the Civil War?
These were in the hands of our soldiers!
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Given the state of preservation of many of the pieces offered sale, I doubt that they were used on the battlefield. A great many Civil War token varieties were made to sell to collectors. When you see pieces in Choice VF and EF, they are probably real, made for commerce, tokens. These pieces didn’t circulate for that long, so high end circulated pieces are not unusual. Some of the Mint State pieces were saved or were leftovers.
BUT off metals, and some of the more spectacular errors are suspect.
Civil War dog tags are much more credible, but they are also quite expensive.