A Link between a Coin and a Token

BillJones

Many collectors, especially those who have not been at it for very long, wonder what the fascination is with tokens. After all if it’s not issued by a government and was never official money, what good is it? Quite often tokens have tales to tell that are more interesting than those that surround many coins, including some of the expensive rarities.

In late 1830s and early 1840s, the United States suffered a massive economic depression, the Panic of 1837. Many people lost their jobs and since there were no government relief programs to speak of, many destitute people had no place to live and some even starved to death.

Like today’s recession, the opposition party blamed the sitting president for the nation’s ills. To publicize this private individuals issued large number of political pieces, some of which collectors now call Hard Times Tokens (HTTs). These pieces often offered cryptic comments about who was to blame for the economic problems and who could fix them. One such piece is HT-20.



The obverse of HT-20 features a ship with the word “Constitution” on its hull sailing in tranquil waters. Surrounding the ship are the words, “Webster, Credit Current, 1841.” The reverse features a wrecked sailing ship with the word “Experiment” on its hull on the rocks. Surrounding it are the words, “Van Buren, Metallic Current, 1837.”

The reverse refers to Martin Van Buren who succeeded Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1837. Van Buren was Jackson’s protégée and had been elected largely upon Jackson’s popularity. Andrew Jackson was a hard money man. During his presidency he had pushed for a reduction in the weight of U.S. gold coins, which to time had been too heavy. As a result most pieces were exported or melted. Jackson’s new gold pieces were the right weight, and they circulated extensively. Jackson also pushed for an expansion of the United State mint system, which resulted in the creation of branch mints in Charlotte, Dahlonega and New Orleans.

In Jackson’s time banks were free to circulate their own paper money with no backing from the government and often flimsy or non-existent guarantees from the bank that issued it. During this period, there was considerable speculation in the sale of public lands in the West. Payments for the purchase of these lands from the government were often made with worthless or heavy discounted notes that were worth a fraction of their face value. Jackson put an end to that by issuing the Specie Circular, which forced investors to pay for public lands in hard currency – gold or silver.

The effect of the Specie Circular was devastating to the economy. It resulted in the flow of hard money (metallic current or currency) from the east to the west. As a result even the honest banks that faithfully backed their currency in hard money ran short and had suspend specie payments. This made the economic depression worse. Therefore we have the shipwreck image.

The Whigs, who were the opposition party of the time, argued on this Hard Times Token that the election of Daniel Webster to the presidency in 1840 (he would have taken office in 1841) would restore the use of paper money (credit current or currency) and bring back prosperity.



This 1838-C quarter eagle was one of Andrew Jackson’s gold pieces. It was issued from the Charlotte mint. There were a number of references to this coin and others like a number of varieties of Hard Times Tokens. The phrases include, “mint drop,” and “metallic currency,”

Therefore you have a link between a regular issue U.S. coin and a token. There are many other links like this in American numismatics, and they make for a fascinating area of collecting.

richbeat

Really informative and interesting. Thanks for posting it!!

DHeath

Thanks Bill. That's a great story, and a good looking piece.

1jester

Outstanding post, Bill, for which I am extremely grateful. And, that is one extraordinarily superb HTT--one of my many favorite designs too.

JrGMan2004

Thanx for the awesome post Bill! Educational and insightful as always!

cladking

Very interesting. Thanks.

Tokens often circulated and each has its own story to tell.

JohnZ

Excellent and informative post!

Keep up the good work. I'd much rather read this type of post than any other.

Garneteye

Thanks for th post

Dan

Yupp

As always, I learn something new everytime I come to this board.

mojorizn

Great post! Sheds a lot of light on a fascinating era in our history.

Mojo

Draco

As Russ would say (if he collected tokens), "This thread is 100% excellent."

Bill. . .very nice token, yours?

shirohniichan

I love these educational threads. Thanks for sharing.

Gemini

Thanks for the great post Bill these are really gaining in popularity.

I have collected these for some time they are both fascinating and historical and their lampooning is a laugh

Here is one of my favorites from my collection.

Steve27

Great "coins" and excellent thread.

agentjim007

AMAZING, you must be reading my mind. After completing my large cent set it seemed like a natural flow to get into Hard Times Tokens (now one of my favorite search phrases on e-bay). The HT-20 as a matter of fact is the last piece I've received, with two more on the way. I've also bought a book. Thanks for the history lesson.

BillJones

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Perhaps I should throw up more of these types of posts in the future. To me the history that surrounds a coin or token really makes it worth collecting.

Yes, I own both of these pieces, and they are in my collection and not my inventory. I purchased the 1838-C quarter eagle many years ago at an EAC convention. It just goes to show that one can find other things at copper conventions, not just half cents and large cents. That piece is now in a PCGS AU-55 holder.

I bought the token at a local Florida show soon after I moved down here. It's 95% with just a hint of red and has great original luster. It's one of those pieces that one can buiy "cheap" because it has so little red surface. To me such pieces are a real bargain. It's conservatively graded in an NGC MS-64, Brown holder. If this were a toned silver piece, I think that it would have made MS-65 quite easily.

agentjim007

Bill,
How do Merchant Tokens from this period fit into the scheme of things?

Thanks
Jim

BillJones

<< <i>Bill,
How do Merchant Tokens from this period fit into the scheme of things?

Thanks
Jim >>



Most Hard Times token collectors collect both the merchant pieces and the political pieces. For many collectors they are on an equal footing, although I imagine that a few collectors specialize in certain states or regions just as they do in the Civil War token series. Currently there are 522 major varieties listed in Russell Rulau's HTT book and about 90 of those are in the Political or non-merchant category.

I'm different because I decided a few years ago to collect only the HTTs that had to do with politics. In fact I collect 19th century pesidential campaign medalets as well, and these Hard Times tokens are considered to be part of the series.