INTERESTING LIBERTY SEATED LOOKALIKE TOKEN

The token was issued in conjunction with the 1871 New York convention of a German-American singing society. The harp on the reverse is symbolic of the musical theme, while the legends are in German. The use of the Liberty Seated figure is interesting â€" in this case, she is the symbol not of Liberty, but of American Liberty in particular.

The Liberty Seated figure was 35 years old on American coinage at this time, and by evoking the standard bearer of American silver money the German immigrant community acknowledged their new homeland. The token designer has thus ably incorporated important themes of the organization â€" music, Germanic background, and American Liberty.

While the design is noteworthy, the execution is not so much - the portrait of Liberty is somewhat crude while a reverse die break causes two strings of the harp to join together (which if you think about it would not make for a very good sounding harp). The reverse legend reads:

ALLGEMEINES SANGERFEST DES NORDOST [German Festival Singers of the Northeast]

SANGERBUNDES 12 [probably referring to the 12th such singing conference]

Thanks to John Baumgart for the photographs of this token.

Wayne Homren, Editor

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