What is a Sutler token?

agentjim007

They all seem to go for big bucks.

Thanks
Jim

numobri

Sutler tokens were given out by the person that followed around the army and sold to the soldiers.

I think.

tjkillian

Sutlers were general merchants who followed the armies during the War of Northern Aggression between 1861 and 1865. I never knew of these sutler tokens, pretty cool.

Tom

BillJones

In a way sutler tokens are a special kind of merchant Civil War token. The merchants who supplied goods to the soldiers in the field during the Civil War issued sutler tokens in much the same was merchants used token in the civilian markets. To put it in modern terms the sutlers were the forerunners of the modern PX (Post Exchange). A merchant was not free become a sutler. He had to get a sanction from the War department, and his franchise was limited to one unit with in the Army.

The sutlers sold items to soldiers that the Army did not provide to them. Those items included candy, tobacco, playing cards, dice, special foods and sometimes under the table because it was against regulations, liquor. Quite often sutlers sold goods to the soldiers on credit. When their monthly pay came though the sutler bill was deducted from their pay before they got it. Sometimes everything a soldier had earned went the sutlers. Some sutlers made change with tokens and paper script. Both forms of token currency are collectors’ items today.

The sutler business was a high profit, high risk business. Sutlers were notorious for charging high prices for inferior goods. In their defense, the sutlers expenses were high, and since they were doing business in combat areas, they stood the chance of catching a stray bullet or cannon ball. And if the enemy happened to capture them, they would be lucky to get away with their lives or freedom, but NOT their goods. On occasion disgruntled soldiers would raid the sutler wagons and take their goods, sometimes with the subtle approval of their commanding officers.

The sutlers usually issued their tokens in small quantities. And since the sutlers were something less than some of the soldiers best memories from the war, they often discarded the worthless tokens after the war was over. For these reasons, sutler token varieties range from scarce to very rare, with “rare” being the usual situation. That’s why the price range for these tokens ranges from say $150 for a decent piece to a few thousand dollars for the rare and popular varieties.

I’ll post a few pictures of sutler tokens if there is any interest in this thread. Sutler tokens range in workmanship from quite crude to well done like some of the best Civil War tokens. And BTW there were Northern and Confecerate sutler merchants.

agentjim007

I knew if Bill showed up I'd get the interesting story. Thank you and yes some rare token pic's are requested. I suppose it's the common (rare) ones I see on ebay and a token worth a couple K would be cool to see.

wayneme

tjkillan
where are you from if i can ask

BillJones

I am from the Tampa, Florida area. I'll have a table at the Lakeland, Florida "collectorama" show that will be held this from Friday to Sunday, this weekend.

kranky

When I see threads like this, I just have to marvel at the astounding amount of knowledge the members here contribute. Here's a question about a very obscure type of token, and in under an hour we have multiple, informed answers posted.

gsaguy

What Kranky said.

GSAGUY

tjkillian

I'm from the Los Angeles area in California. I like history and the history of the War for Southern Independece is sorely lacking in today's school. I am also a civil war reenactor in a southern unit. There was many causes of the war and so many folks think it was just about slavery, sad.

Tom

BillJones

Here are some sutler token pictures. I'm not a big collector of these; I just dabble with pieces from New England (very tough for the most part) and pieces that grabbed my fancy. I'll post one other a bit later.

First a well-done piece. This token for sutler Harvey Lewis, who served the 23rd Massachusetts, was made by Joseph Merriam who designed the "Good for a Scent" token that I posted elsewhere yesterday. This comes in the 5, 10, 25 and 50 cent denominations. I dare say that these pieces were put into a 19th century collection soon after they were made. I doubt that they saw any time on the battlefield. These once cost less than $100. Today you can expect to pay $350 or more apiece for them.

BTW the same set of dies was used for all four denominations. Harvey Lewis used a die within a die where he switched out the center of the reverse with small dies that had 5, 10, 25 or 50 on them. He did this with a set of tokens that he made for Tuttle's Restaurant in Boston also.



Second less attractive piece for sutler W.A. Farr. This is the only New Hampshire sutler who issued a token. These are really tough. This token sells for $1,500 or more. BUT if you would like a piece from Maine, which looks very similar to this piece, plan on spending $3,000+ if you have the chance. I've never had the chance.



And now the ugly. This piece from E. Peal is a Massachusetts piece. The reverse is either blank or it might have a mark that resembles a spider. I these pieces are quite rare, and I have not seen them offered for a while. $400 to $500 may not be that far out of line. BTW does the "ONE" on the smaller one mean 1 cent or 1 dollar? The most common guess is 1 cent.



I'll be back with another picture later when I locate the piece.

agentjim007

Awesome. You guys quit starring at those pretty colors on your common Morgan and learn something.