A New Purchase, The "Fat Donkey" Variety Hard Times Token
BillJones
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I have been collecting the political Hard Times tokens for many years. I once collected the merchant pieces but lost interest in them.
According the Russell Rulau, HTT-70 was the perhaps the first Hard Times and the first one which was widely used as a substitute for the cent. It features Andrew Jackson, in his military uniform, emerging from a treasure chest with the slogan "I take the Responsibility." The message was that Jackson was combining his military might with the purse strings which posed a danger to democracy.
The reverse shows a donkey with “LLD” on its belly. This is surrounded by the slogan, “The Constitution as I understand it,” with “Roman firmness” above the donkey and “Veto” below it. This referred to Jackson’s frequent use of his veto powers as president, especially toward his rejection of a new charter for The Bank of the United States. The “LLD” refers to an honorary Doctor of Law degree that Harvard University awarded to Jackson. Some Harvard alumni were none too pleased by that.
The dies for this piece were made by Edward Hulsemen who was from Attleboro, Massachusetts. It is believed that these tokens were introduced in 1833.
Apparently another die sinker admired Hulsemen’s work. He produced an inferior copy of it with the same design. Jackson’s head is larger on the obverse and the donkey on the reverse is fatter. This is sometimes called “the fat donkey” design. This piece may have been issued as late as 1842 according to Rulau.
The variety number is HTT-72. Like the HTT-70, this piece is rated as an R-1, but I’ve found it to be good deal scarcer, especially in nice condition. I have had a low grade example of this piece for many years. I have tried to up grade it, but was always unsuccessful at auction. The high grade piece shown above was part of the Robert A. Schuman, MD collection which Heritage sold a few days ago. It is the plate coin. The pictures in the book appear to have been enhanced to make them look redder than the tokens really are in person.
Here is the piece my recent purchase replaced in my collection. As you can see, it was quite an upgrade.
Comments
Interesting history on the second piece Bill. Thanks for sharing.
Quite an upgrade indeed! WTG!!
“We are only their care-takers,” he posed, “if we take good care of them, then centuries from now they may still be here … ”
Todd - BHNC #242
Nice. Did you get this from the recent Heritage auction? Dr. Robert Schuman Collection?
Dead Cat Waltz Exonumia
"Coin collecting for outcasts..."
Way cool
Yes that was the source.
The color of the tokens in the book is confusing. This piece looks to be red in the book, but it's an even brown.
Huge upgrade for sure, and great eye appeal
Great upgrade Bill. Thanks so much for sharing the history of this piece.