J.L. Bode, Birdstuffer struck on an 1861 Seated Liberty Quarter

DCW · January 2, 2021 5:56PM

Here is a fairly new purchase that I'd like to share now that it is completely paid off after many monthly payments.
NY-630H-1fo Stk Over 1861 25C J.L. Bode, Birdstuffer PCGS MS64 ex. T.Harrison Garrett

The iconic stag design was made by famed New York diesinker, Louis Roloff. "Birdstuffer," in those days, was a term given to taxidermists.
It has always been interesting to people to find on the reverse that Mr. Bode paired this unusual profession at North William St with the sale of "Bohemian Fancy Glassworks."
All Civil War tokens struck on coins are rare. The cents, being the most attainable. Followed by dimes. And the rarest of them all, quarters. Probably because the size lent well to using cents and to a lesser extent the dimes. But, it was also alot more costly, as 25c actually meant something back then. Laborers earned 10c/hour.
This amazing overstrike was purchased by T. Harrison Garrett in Haseltine's 65th auction on March 1, 1883. It remained in the storied Garrett Family Collection for almost a century until it was sold in 1981. Bill Anton was the buyer and held ownership for nearly four decades.
So, now it belongs to me, residing in my little Box of 20 special tokens and medals from the Civil War. Just an incredible piece to place under the loupe and see that eagle on the reverse poised for flight.

Thanks for looking!

Zoins · January 2, 2021 5:58PM

That's an awesome storecard Den! You certainly know when to go big

It deserves a mention in the T. Harrison Garrett appreciation thread with all his other great pieces there:

https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1047274/appreciating-t-harrison-garrett#latest

koynekwest · January 2, 2021 6:00PM

That's a significant coin/token. I like it! Congratulations!

Stella · January 2, 2021 6:07PM

How cool! What a neat addition to your set.

coinsarefun · January 2, 2021 6:20PM

Awesome!

Zoins · January 2, 2021 6:22PM

@DCW said:
It has always been interesting to people to find on the reverse that Mr. Bode paired this unusual profession at North William St with the sale of "Bohemian Fancy Glassworks."

That is interesting. Is it confirmed that Bode was the proprietor of the Bohemian Fancy Glassworks or was a partnership with someone else?

He's certainly listed at that address:

https://books.google.com/books?id=MNYNAAAAQAAJ&pg=RA1-PA9&lpg=RA1-PA9

SaorAlba · January 2, 2021 6:29PM

Great token and story behind it, love the overstrike and the design.

Flatwoods · January 2, 2021 7:34PM

This is the reason I visit here.
Very cool piece.

kaz · January 2, 2021 8:20PM

That is just extreeemly cool! Nice research, Zoins. I have a "plain" one, just to show the design:

Zoins · January 2, 2021 8:43PM

@kaz said:
That is just extreeemly cool! Nice research, Zoins. I have a "plain" one, just to show the design:

That looks like a nice specimen! I love the colors on it. The obverse is especially nice.

And now for more research.

J.L. Bode's first name is.....

JOHN

He's listed as John L. Bode, a taxidermist that worked on 170 William St in the:

Official Catalogue of the New York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations. 1853.

Stuffed bear, stuffed birds, and other animals-John L. Bode, taxidermist, 170 William street, New York City.

I wonder if 16 N. William St. is the same location after the street was sectioned into North and presumably South, or if it is a different physical location.

I also still need to track down John L. Bode's middle name.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_6943124_000/ldpd_6943124_000.pdf

Mark · January 2, 2021 8:47PM

Gad @DCW you make it a big deal that "eagle on the reverse poised for flight." What else would you expect given that the token is being struck for a birdstuffer???

Mark

VERY cool token by the way!

Zoins · January 2, 2021 10:25PM

Looks like John L. Bode a member of the Masons and Odd Fellows. I wonder if they have detailed membership records.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/156480904/john-l-bode

Zoins · January 2, 2021 11:01PM

@DCW said:
It has always been interesting to people to find on the reverse that Mr. Bode paired this unusual profession at North William St with the sale of "Bohemian Fancy Glassworks."

This mystery was solved by John Anthony of CoinTalk. The glassworks were for glass eyes to be used in taxidermy.

John Anthony wrote:

At first I thought the combination of taxidermy and glasswork was odd. Could you bring dearly departed Fido in to have him stuffed and mounted in a glass case? Talk about one-stop-shopping. But the clue to the mystery came from the 1863 Annual Report of the Iowa State Agricultural Society: "Glass eyes can be procured from...J. L. Bode, Naturalist, No. 16 North William street, near Chatham street, N.Y." (p. 331) So Mr. Bode was supplying glass eyes for taxidermists, at least as far west as Iowa. Now the token made sense.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/cwts-and-htts.261953/

Zoins · January 2, 2021 11:04PM

@DCW said:
This amazing overstrike was purchased by T. Harrison Garrett in Haseltine's 65th auction on March 1, 1883. It remained in the storied Garrett Family Collection for almost a century until it was sold in 1981. Bill Anton was the buyer and held ownership for nearly four decades.

Great provenance! For very notable coins, it's common practice to include dealers in the provenance chain too which may be nice here.

ricko · January 3, 2021 5:49AM

Good detective work there....I worry about researchers in the future.... with electronic records that can so easily be wiped out.... Of course, many records/files/letters/books have also been destroyed.... So, perhaps the digital world will be at least as good. It is where we are, and I believe it shall only grow. Cheers, RickO

calgolddiver · January 3, 2021 7:32AM

AMAZING !!!! thanks to all for sharing !!

johnny9434 · January 3, 2021 10:05AM

Nice score. That 6 months take forever at time to

Zoins · January 3, 2021 12:21PM

Along with the token here, this is in close contention for the coolest John L. Bode item I've run across so far.

It would be insanely awesome to have one of these.

Imagine collecting these to go with the tokens? It would be like collecting Merriam's Seal Stamping machines but these take up a lot more space!

https://educators.mysticseaport.org/artifacts/denison_bird_collection/

The birds spent most of their life on display in the Denison family home on 28 Broadway, Mystic Bridge, CT. Out of the 84, only 35 species have been identified. There are numerous humming birds that are difficult to distinguish between species. The birds that are familiar to North America are: hooded merganser, Virginia rail, clapper rail, California quail, horned lark, pileated woodpecker, wood duck, blue jay, blue bird, ruby throated humming bird, elegant trogan, great kiskadee, Baltimore oriole, American red start, indigo bunting, common yellow throated warbler, and scarlet tanager.

Central and South America: turquoise tanager, black-throated magpie jay, woodcreeper, pompadour cotinga, green and black fruiteater, white bibbed manakin, quetzal, golden headed manakin, oriole blackbird, plum throated cotinga or swallow tanager, bay headed tanager, blue dacnis, red capped manakin, red-crested cardinal or yellow billed cardinal, red crowned parrot, and blue capped tanager.

Others: Eurasian Jay (from Europe and Asia) and red-crowned barbet (from South Eastern Asia).

Of the birds that have been identified only three are listed as threatened or endangered. The quetzal and red-crowned barbet are both near threatened and the red-crowned parrot is endangered due to loss of habitat and being capture for pets.

Zoins · January 3, 2021 1:13PM

More info from the Mystic Sea Port indicates John L. Bode won some award medals and his successor did work for P.T. Barnum!

It would be great to track down some of the medals and see the work done for P.T. Barnum.

This particular display was professionally done by John L. Bode, a German immigrant and well-respected New York taxidermist. Bode died on January 9, 1866, so this collection of birds were stuffed before 1866, or done by an employee working under his name. Bode won several medals for his work in taxidermy and his successor, J. Wallace, did taxidermy work for the famous showman P.T. Barnum.

jrrgd · January 3, 2021 1:21PM

@Zoins said:

@kaz said:
That is just extreeemly cool! Nice research, Zoins. I have a "plain" one, just to show the design:

That looks like a nice specimen! I love the colors on it. The obverse is especially nice.

And now for more research.

J.L. Bode's first name is.....

JOHN

He's listed as John L. Bode, a taxidermist that worked on 170 William St in the:

Official Catalogue of the New York Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations. 1853.

Stuffed bear, stuffed birds, and other animals-John L. Bode, taxidermist, 170 William street, New York City.

I wonder if 16 N. William St. is the same location after the street was sectioned into North and presumably South, or if it is a different physical location.

I also still need to track down John L. Bode's middle name.

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts/ldpd_6943124_000/ldpd_6943124_000.pdf

is 16 N William St on Staten Is? SI wasn't officially part of NYC until 1898. Perhaps at the time Staten Islanders colloquially identified themselves as part of NYC?

Zoins · January 3, 2021 5:33PM

Here's an 1865 ad for German piping bullfinches published in:

New York Daily Herald, New York, New York on 24 Jun 1865, Sat in Page 7

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/46759439/john-l-bode/

DCW · January 4, 2021 5:43PM

Thanks everyone for the comments. It is nice to share this historic piece with you all, and read what the forum (especially @Zoins ) drums up in the form of research.
It has been a real privilege adding this one to my collection.

J.L. Bode, Birdstuffer struck on an 1861 Seated Liberty Quarter

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