Bryan Money

astrorat

Anyone know a good source for Bryan Money?

Lane

Sandhawk

keets

are you talking about Bryan Dollars??

al h.

ldhair

Campaign pieces (tokens).
1896 William Bryan was running for Pres. against McKinley.
Bryan wanted silver as a monetary standard, set at one 16th the value of gold.
These were struck in coin silver. Cool stuff.

Louis

I know a couple of Bryans that have tarnished Dollars.

astrorat

<< <i>are you talking about Bryan Dollars??

al h. >>



Yep, Bryan dollars are one form of Bryan money.

Lane

ldhair

They had one of the Bryan mechanical pieces on the Road Show the other day.

astrorat

Cool, did you recall at what level they valued it?

Lane

ldhair

Not sure what they put the value at.
My guess is a few hundred.
The history behind Bryan money is great reading.

Mark

I saw the Bryan token. It was VERY cool. It was made of two round discs: A thicker, outside disc and a thinner, round disc that fit inside the thicker disc and revolved. The inside disc had a small handle (like a peg) that extended outside of the rim of the larger disc so that the inside disc could be turned. The outside disc had two ovals cut in it, one at the top and one at the bottom, so that you could see the inside disc through the ovals. On the outside disc was written something to the effect "one dollar equals" in large print in the middle of the disc. On the inside disc, in one position visible through the top oval was written something to the effect of "With gold, one hundred cents" so that viewed together the token reads "With gold, one hundred cents equals one dollar." In this position, in the bottom oval the inner disc has visible some nice written things about McKinley and his running mate, (I believe Teddy Roosevelt so the token dates from 1900.) Turn the handle and the inner disc revolves, which changes the top to read "With silver, 50 cents" so that viewed together the token now reads "With silver, 50 cents equals one dollar." In this position, the bottom oval shows some derogatory comments about Bryan. I vaguely recall the value was in the low thousands, but I might be WAY off. Nonetheless, the token was truly neat. The person valuing it said it was "so rare that it's not listed in the guidebooks." I took that comment with a grain of salt...

Re a good source for Bryan money: I've never seen it nor read it, but I thought the Numismatist published a major article on Bryan money quite some time ago.

Mark

Shamika

<< <i> They had one of the Bryan mechanical pieces on the Road Show the other day. >>



I saw it! Really a cool piece.

As I recall, the dealer said it was the nicest piece he had ever seen. I think he estimated it's value at $1500, but I could be wrong.

astrorat

If he estimated it at $1500, then HE was wrong.

Lane

oreville

$1500????????????

Crazy talk.

I have one of those "Bryanarchy"political tokens. It cost me about $60 a few years back. It was put out by the Republican team as an anti Bryan Stevenson political "button"

It was indeed as Mark described, a brass token that swiveled to show the fallen eagle when the US goes on the silver standard versus a proud eagle when the US is on the gold standard.

Such token runs about $100 or so, even less if you get lucky. .

astrorat

There are two varieties of the "dial" pendant. One is relatively common, this is the one that was part of the 1896 campaign. On the "eagle side" it states "PAT-APP-D FOR" at the bottom and should run in the $100-$150 range, if in nice condition. Several months ago one such piece languished on eBay for at least two rounds with an opening bid of $150 . . . no takers.

The second piece was part of the 1900 campaign and has "PAT JULY. 27 - 1897" written at the bottom on the "eagle side." It runs, well, more than $150! I have only seen two pieces and neither was for sale. It is listed as "very rare" in Schornstein and I believe the same in Zerbe (although I do not have my copy in front of me). It tends to be a "piece of opportunity" that if you pass once, it will be a long time until you dance again. With that said, if any of you good folks out there have one to sell . . . then never mind the whole "very rare" stuff and sell it to me cheap!

Lane

oreville

As a non political token collector I don't mind the PAT-APP-D FOR one !!!! LOL.

They both talk on both sides at the same time, politically speaking.

Love reading about how Bryan lamented that McKinley portrayed himself as a progressive on the West Coast and a conservative on the East Coast (or was that Taft?).

SanctionII

My son's name is Bryan. He has some coins in his room. That is the only source of Bryan money I know of.

shylock

From the Roadshow website:



"In St. Paul, Bob from the Golden Valley Ranch was able to bring Rudy Franchi a genuine golden moment in the form of a fake gold coin that had been handed down to him through his grandfather. The 1897 "I'm All Right" coin, though mundane on its front, features a complex back with a sliding mechanism. The coin served as a piece of very negative political propaganda during William McKinley's (ultimately successful) presidential campaign against William Jennings Bryan in 1896. A formidable orator, Bryan took a firm stance for Free Silver with his famous "Cross of Gold" speech at the 1896 Democratic National Convention. The coin's mechanical back changes the message "Gold Standard makes a dollar worth 100 cents — Mack & Teddy" to "Free Silver makes a dollar worth 50 cents — Bryanarchy & Stevenson." A strong supporter of the Gold Standard, McKinley wanted to convince voters that using silver to support the dollar's value — as Bryan advocated — would lead to inflation, lessening its value. Only a few of these mechanical coins were created before the political button so familiar today was invented and became popular. Franchi proclaimed the coin a "Holy Grail piece," the first he had ever come across after nine years with the RAODSHOW, and appraised it at $2,500."

astrorat

Wow . . . appraised at $2,500 and a "Holy Grail" piece to boost . . . that fellow needs to get out more often. Just because it has not shown up at the Roadshow in 9 years doesn't mean that it's worth all that hyperbole.

It is the rarer of the two varieties, but it is not worth anywhere near $2,500. Then again, maybe it's like jewelry . . . appraised at $2,500, but he would only pay $200 . . . if forced.

Lane

keets

actual "Bryan Dollars" as listed in the Hibler/Kappen book So-Called Dollars are quite scarce/rare depending on which type you're considering. when they show up, which isn't very often, they generally sell for much more than the tokens described earlier in the thread which were more along the lines of novelty items. despite some of the criticism directed towards Bryan's political/economic views, he was at heart hoping to settle the issue of "Bimetallism" in U.S. coinage which had been a hotly debated topic for many, many years.

it should be remembered that there were several instances throughout the 1800's when the Treasury had to alter the weight of silver coinage with the end result, prior to the "Bryan Dollars" and the elections of the 1890's, being disarray and economic confusion as silver was devalued. Hibler/Kappen point out that when the economic panic of 1893 struck, 8000 businesses failed and there were over 400 bank failures along with 56 railroads going into receivership/bankpuptcy. the elections revolved around pro-silver/bi-metallism and the gold standard, with the gold lobby winning.

the Bryan Dollars hoped to illustrate the imbalance of the ratio between gold/silver.

al h.

thebeav

<< <i> Franchi proclaimed the coin a "Holy Grail piece," the first he had ever come across after nine years with the RAODSHOW, and appraised it at $2,500." >>



This one is easy....Franchi actually owned the piece. It's that way with about 10 -15 % of rare items on antiques roadshow. Perhaps more. This serves two purposes: 1)The dealer pumps up their merchandise, 2)Roadshow gets some neat items and it helps prompte the interest in the show.
Did you really think ignorant people had this rare stuff in their closets ?

Paul

astrorat

"Bryan Dollars" are one type of Bryan Money, as you likely already know . . . but just for the benefit of the folks new to this stuff. The HK book is a bit limited as it only list some of the Bryan Money. The mechanical pendant is not actually Bryan Money, but is collected as such, just as the "16 to 1" gold bug pins are often part of a Bryan Money collection.

Lane

Smittys