Got any Jacksonian era coinage??

OldEastside

Its Presidents Day and we still sing songs about this guy, So Post some of your Favorite Jacksonian Era Coinage.

Steve

The Battle of New Orleans

BillJones

I could post some Jackson era coins, but presidential campaign medalets from his three runs for the White House are more interesting.

Here is a token from his first run in 1824. One of the big selling points in all of Jackson's campaigns was his victory at New Orleans.




Jackson got the most popular votes and Electoral College votes in 1824, but he did not win a majority in Electoral College. That sent the election to the House of Representatives. There Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, who wanted Jackson out of the way so that he could pursue his own presidential dreams, engineered a win for John Quincy Adams. When Adams appointed Clay secretary of state, which was then viewed as a stepping stone to the presidency at that time, the Jackson people called Adams' appointment "the corrupt bargain."

In 1828 Jackson geared up for strong campaign and won the White House. All 1828 campaign tokens range from very scarce to rare. Here is the most common 1828 presidential campaign token if you believe that 25 to 30 known is "common." There is a scene from the Battle of New Orleans on the reverse.




Here is a matched pair of 1828 tokens. They don't look like much, but these pieces are rarer than almost any 19th century key date coin you can name. The first one for Andrew Jackson is rare.




And this piece for John Quincy Adams is ultra rare, maybe less than 10 known and in nice condition to boot. Acquiring ANYTHING from a John Quincy Adams election campaign is a major coup for a political items collector.




In 1832 Jackson ran for re-election against Henry Clay. These two pieces are both listed as Hard Times tokens. The first is Low 1, which one of the most desired of all Hard Times tokens. My piece has some issues, but compared to most, it's decent. It also speaks to the bank issue and the preservation of the Union.




This one is one of my favorites. It once more brings up Jackson's military record. I bought this one ultra cheap because of the hole, but it is a really nice example of this scarce token. I also have one without a hole that is not as sharp.




Here is an anti-jackson piece. Historian and Navy hero, Samuel Elliot Morrison, in his History of The United States claimed that this was origin of Democtatic donkey. It was really a satire on Jackson's stubborness according to his oppoenets and his name - the JACK ass. This variety is quite common ,and you can find better ones that this for a price.




I have more, but perhaps I should yield to the others.

lkeigwin

Wonderful campaign tokens, Bill. I especially like the 1824. You collection sounds incredible.

Here are a couple of ordinary US coins from 1828.
Lance.

LotsoLuck

Those are great BillJones

BillJones

One of Andrew Jackson's reforms, which actually worked, was to reduce the weight of the U.S. gold coinage to levels that got the coins into domestic circulation. Prior to that, almost all of the newly minted U.S. gold coins went to Europe and the melting pot. Jack believed that economic stability could be brought to yeoman farmers and the working class by issuing low denomination gold coins in large quantities. The purpose was to replace the private bank issued paper money that was then in circulation.

Jackson's opponents hated these coins. They called "yellow jackets" and "Benton currency" after the senator Thomas Hart Benton who proposed the bill that authorized them. Some of the Jackson haters even tired to claim that he supported this gold coinage so that it would be easier for his campaign workers to buy votes during elections.

Here is an 1836 Classic Head $2.50. This was the last full year of Jackson's presidency.



And here is an 1834 Classic Head $5 gold. This was the first common date U.S. gold coin. Several thousand of these coins have survived.




In contrast less than 70 of these old style 1834 large size Capped Bust half eagles have survived.

guitarwes

I have more, but perhaps I should yield to the others.

Please don't. Post away......WOW!~!~!~!~!~!

BillJones

<< <i>Please don't. Post away......WOW!~!~!~!~!~! >>



Okay ...

This piece was issued in connection with Jackson's 1832 in inauguration. This one is in silver, but it’s also known in copper and rarely in gold. One of the owners of the King of Siam Proof set bought one of these in gold to fill the blank space in the original case. It is not know if one of these in gold was in the original set. This piece is only scarce, not rare.



This is one of two somewhat common 1832 pieces that commemorated Jackson's "victories in war and peace." The other one shows Jackson wearing a toga. I have that, which is more common, but oddly I haven't taken a picture of it.




Here is an anti-Jackson piece showing him in frock coat with bag of money and a sword. Jackson made alot of comments about how his presidency was "devoid of pomp" and here he gets out for that. The reverse shows another Jackson jack ass. This piece is fairly common, but this is a bit better struck than most.




This anti Jackson Hard Times token takes a shot at Jackson's big ego. "MY VICTORY, MY EXPERIMENT, MY CURRENCY, MY GLORY." The reverse refers to the administration that has gone "hog wild." This is a common variety.




I'll call this one the Jackson addendum. Martin Van Buren was Andrew Jackson’s protégé. He was a cagey politician was sometimes too cagey for his own good. When Jackson’s opponents refused to confirm Van Buren as the Ambassador to England, Jackson picked him to be his vice president. At end of Jackson’s two terms as president, (Note the previous token that accused him of wanting another term.) Jackson hand picked him to be his successor.

Van Buren won the presidency, but almost as soon as he took office, the stuff hit the fan. The country went into the Panic of 1837 was as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s. Back then there were even less provisions for out of work people that in the ‘30s. More than few people froze or staved to death. There were no “safety nets” in that day except for faith based charities. Van Buren was drummed out of office with the chant of “Van Van’s a used up man!” ringing in his ears. There are a quite a few anti Van Buren tokens, but here is one of the positive ones with the Democratic “temple of liberty” on the reverse.

Broadstruck

Nice posts BillJones!

ambro51

Excellent informative post with great coins and an interesting theme.

OldEastside

Good God Bill, those are sooo cool, I thought I was a Jackson fan
and if your a Jackson fan your probably a Johnny Horton fan as well
I'm both, THANK YOU

Keep Posting Twist twist

Steve

TomB

Thank you, Bill, for the wonderfully informative and entertaining posts! Thank you, too, OldEastside for starting such an interesting thread.

lordmarcovan

Jackson is interesting because he's such a mixed bag. On the one hand, he was a legitimate military hero, but on the other hand, he could be a vicious tyrant as well. He was both a great man and a very flawed one.

SaorAlba

<< <i>


Jackson is interesting because he's such a mixed bag. On the one hand, he was a legitimate military hero, but on the other hand, he could be a vicious tyrant as well. He was both a great man and a very flawed one. >>



A mixed "bag", appropriate. Since he turned on his onetime allies from the War of 1812 and had them forcibly removed from their native land and marched several hundred miles west. Today we call it "ethnic cleansing".

lordmarcovan

That was mostly what I was referring to. He was quite a racist. Perhaps it's not fair to judge an early-19th century president by our early-21st century moral or political standards, but by the standards of any time period, some of Jackson's deeds were pretty awful. That doesn't change the fact that he was a bonafide American hero, but his iconic status doesn't excuse his crimes, either.

I find this same dichotomy in some of the Roman emperors that fascinate me both numismatically and historically. Take Diocletian, for example. From the Roman point of view, a great reformer, and you'd have to say he ranks as a great emperor, but he was also a persecutor of the Christians and no doubt had plenty of blood on his hands, as many (or most) Roman emperors did.

GeorgeKellogg

"Old Hickory" could have carried this one, but not for very long! The photography is courtesy of BluCC Photos.

AnkurJ