#CIVIL WAR TOKENS SERIES#

Featured on the obverse of this token is the Union Flag, and on the reverse an adapted quote from John Adams Dix, which reads â€œIf Anybody Attempts to Tear It Down, Shoot Him On The Spot, DIX,â€ which references to the Union Flag. Among these is one of the most popular varieties of Patriotic Civil War Tokens-the â€œDIXâ€ Token. Most Patriotic tokens are from pro-union perspectives, and display slogans such as â€œOur Country,â€ â€œFreedom,â€ and â€œThe Union Shall Be Preserved.â€ Also on these coins are images of Liberty, George Washington, Abe Lincoln, 19th Century Cannons, the Capitol Building, and the USS Monitor. Designs on Patriotic tokens were meant to be both attractive and meaningful. These tokens were often minted for a small profit and were frequently sold to numismatists. Patriotic tokens were similar in size to Store Cards, but their purposes were different. Patrioticâ€™s are very intriguing, especially because they show the opinions of many noncombatant Americans during the Civil War. Another type of Civil War token is the Patriotic token.

Store cards were not the only form of Civil War Tokens.

#CIVIL WAR TOKENS SERIES#

One of his most popular series of coins depicted all of the candidates for presidency in 1860. Numismatists of the time couldnâ€™t get enough of his designs. Along with the thousands of Store Cards he produced, Stanton also made some fascinating Patriotic Tokens. Stanton was a skilled minter who specialized in engraving tokens with an Indian Head. Stanton, who lived and operated in Cincinnati, was the largest producer of Store Cards. One of these private minters was John Stanton. They simply paid for die engravers and minters to produce custom coins for distribution. However, the merchants were not the ones that actually made these Store Cards. There were also many services advertised on Store Cards, such as commercial printing, educational classes, die sinking, and letter cutting. Some of these traders were grocers, and others sold medicine, tobacco, and alcohol. Store Cards have been issued from a large variety of different merchants with various specialties. Because of this, a law was passed in 1864 stating that privately minting coins for circulation was illegal. By the time coins issued by the US Government began to make a comeback, the economy was so overrun with Store Cards that Government produced coins had to compete for circulation. Millions of Store Cards poured out of these cities in the year 1863 alone! Store cards were so popular that they almost completely replaced the cent. New York and Cincinnati became the headquarters for the mass production of Store cards. These cent sized tokens served as both a means of advertising for businesses and a method of payment. Store Cards, the first and most widely circulated type of Civil War Tokens, soon became the currency of a coin-less America. With this realization came an amazing innovation-the Store Card. When 19 th Century Merchants saw that they would soon be jobless because of the trade halts, they realized that if the government would not issue reliable money, they would have to mint their own coins. Merchants, businessmen, and entrepreneurs who were unable to make transactions because of the paucity of coins turned to minting Civil War Tokens. By July 14 th, 1863, the US was nearly 100% without coins. They merely made a promise to one day repay the holder with real specie. When the Government issued paper money, there was nothing to back it up. The paper money of the time was heavily inflated and untrustworthy, which added to the problem. Many hoarded all physical money they came into contact with: starting with the gold and working all the way down to copper-nickel cents. The Civil War caused severe shortages of coins of all denominations.

Civil war tokens