THE PERISCOPIC SPECTACLED TOKENS OF HENRY HIGGINS

Henry D. Higgins was one of the earliest settlers of Mishawaka Indiana. Born on his father’s farm near Syracuse New York in 1822, Higgins was a grandchild of a Revolutionary War veteran who emigrated to America from England.

Higgins, like many other industrious Americans, decided to try his luck at prospecting and moved to California in 1850.

Unsuccessful with his mining efforts, Higgins returned back to Mishawaka a year later, and opened a jewelry business.

In mid-19th century America, jewelers didn’t just specialize in precious metals, rings, and gemstones. Oftentimes these craftsmen also practiced clocksmithing and optometry. Much of the same expertise and materials needed to make jewelry, were also the same skill-sets necessary to build clocks and fabricate eye-wear. Higgins’ new jewelry venture was no different.

For the next decade Higgins’ proprietorship prospered. As the town of Mishawaka grew, so did Higgins’ business.

H.D. Higgens issued 19 different varieties of Civil War tokens during the early and mid-1860s. Like other Civil War storecards of the time, the tokens were issued as change to customers, and had a face value of one-cent.

Below is a H.D. Higgens’ Civil War token. Listed as Fuld IN630A-2a, the token is Choice EF, and has a rarity rating of R-4 on the Fuld Rarity Scale. It is plain edged and struck in copper.

To read the complete article, see: Henry D. Higgins & His Periscopic Spectacled Tokens (www.novanumismatics.com/numismatic-sketches/henry-d-higgins-his
-periscopic-spectacled-tokens/)

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