CHARLES DICKENS WRITES ABOUT 1860 U.S. CAMPAIGN MEDALS

PREV ARTICLE NEXT ARTICLE FULL ISSUE PREV FULL ISSUE

V17 2014 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 17, Number 9, March 2, 2014, Article 16

Ernie Nagy submitted this write-up of an April 13, 1861 Charles Dickens article, Election Time In America, which includes a description the use of campaign medals during the election of 1860. The image of Lincoln campaign medals in the box is of medals in Ernie's collection. Thanks! -Editor

John M. Kleeberg’s excellent article in the December 2013 edition of The Numismatist, Charles Dickens’ Numismatic References in A Christmas Carol, brought to mind another Dickens numismatic reference. Harold Holzer’s Lincoln at Cooper Union, The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln Famous, relays a report from Dickens of his visit to New York prior to the election of 1860: Dickens writes that “Barefooted boys” and “lean fried up men” could be found hawking campaign medals from cigar boxes in “the luxurious marble paved smoking rooms of the great hotels” and “through the long avenues of the rail-road cars”.

The source of these quotes is a weekly journal published by Dickens, All the Year Round. His detailed description of the atmosphere in America prior to an election was the subject of an article titled Election Time in America. Additional Dickens campaign medal context in that article includes:

"Now, when I go to the store of Barnewitz, and buy these election badges, which are about the size of a five-dollar gold piece, I find they bear on one side the likeness of the nominee for President, on the other the Vice-President, and are to be worn at the button-hole. I have seen thousands wearing them; and since I have been in America, and indeed a week ago on the Alabama river, I met a well-known duel-list with a little silver bell on his watch-chain: signifying thereby his changeless attachment to Bell, one of the candidates for the presidentship. These election medals follow me everywhere … the shops have trays of them in their windows; you can almost tell in different cities how the voting is likely to go, by the majority of medals you meet, being either 'Lincoln' or 'Douglas'.”

Below find an image from Google Books containing a portion Dickens’s journal article, and below that a hyperlink to the full article containing descriptions of a candidate event held at a “grog-shop” where endless glasses of “lager beer”, “brandy cocktail” and “Jersey Lightening” are drunk; unflattering “political portraits” of legislative candidates; and a detailed description of a Douglas ox roast.

The appeal of a political campaign medal, as compared to a memorial medal, is that the campaign pieces were instruments of a contest when the result was still to be determined. Accounts written during a campaign of the use of political medals evidence this distinction, and when penned by a prominent author of great literature make for a good read.

What a great slice of numismatic history, straight from the pen of someone who was there! And not just anyone, but one of the greatest writers in English literature. Thanks! -Editor