CINCINNATI COLLECTOR HENRY CLAY EZEKIEL

Over the years much has been written about the lives of prominent numismatists. Strangely, I have found very little concerning Henry Clay Ezekiel, who not only amassed a huge collection of tokens, medals, and paper money relating to Cincinnati, but also was acquainted with the die sinkers who were responsible for striking a significant percentage of all merchant tokens issued during the Civil War.

According to an article in the November, 1930 issue of The Numismatist, Ezekiel was born on January 30, 1846 in Richmond, Virginia. He attended the Lancasterian School in Richmond, and upon graduation enlisted in the Confederate Army. Following his discharge he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he resided for the rest of his life.

Ezekiel became an auctioneer, and in all probability started this career by working for someone else. His earliest advertisements under his own name, in 1875 issues of The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper, describe his business as Ezekiel & Co., Auctioneers; sales-rooms Nos. 19 and 21 W. Pearl St. His October 5 th sale was of dry goods, woolens, blankets shawls, notions, furnishing goods, &c. The following day he conducted a special importers' sale of ribbons, silks, velvets, feathers and flowers, collarettes, ties, scarfs, genuine human hair, &c. From that modest start, he quickly became Cincinnati's premier auctioneer.

In 1878 Ezekiel began an association with Louis Rosin & Company, and by 1880 Samuel Bernheim was also involved with the firm. An announcement in the January 1, 1881 newspaper announced that the business was dissolved, and that H. C. Ezekiel and Samuel Bernheim will continue the General Auction and Commission Business at No. 134 Main Street under the firm name of Ezekiel & Bernheim This was a partnership that was destined to last for more than thirty years, and with great success.

Ezekiel & Bernheim handled such diverse items as fine art, automobiles, real estate, tobacco crops, pianos, furniture, oriental rugs, glassware and china, coins, and antiques. During their years in business they liquidated the inventories of numerous companies that were going out of business. In 1911, for example, they conducted a sale devoted completely to shoes; 75,000 pairs of them. In addition to their Main Street location, they had a warehouse on E. Second Street, and another on Walnut Street. One of the services the firm offered was the insured storage of furniture, etc. in these facilities.

Ezekiel was active in community affairs. In 1877 he was elected president of the newly-formed Young Men's Hebrew Association, and he was a member of several other Jewish organizations. He volunteered his services as auctioneer for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra's concert seats, and he served as a director of the Ohio Mechanics' Institute. In March, 1894 he married Jesse Myers of Avondale (a neighborhood in Cincinnati) in what was described by The Cincinnati Enquirer as the most brilliant social event of the week. More than fifty family members and friends were in attendance. The new couple spent their honeymoon in Asheville, followed by a trip to New York.

An article in the June 16, 1914 issue of The Cincinnati Inquirer announced that the Cincinnati Commission Company had purchased Ezekiel & Bernheim's business, which had gone into receivership several months earlier. Two of the four principals in the new company were Walter and Lewis Ezekiel; I assume they were sons of Henry who, shortly prior to that notice, had announced his new realty agency in the Provident Bank building at Vine and Seventh streets. He remained in that business until his death in 1930.

Having read this far, perhaps you are wondering what all this has to do with Civil War tokens. Well, Ezekiel was a very active, knowledgeable, and, as you'll see, significant collector and dealer in numismatic items, and he was especially interested in those from Cincinnati. He was listed as a new member of the American Numismatic Association in the September, 1905 issue of The Numismatist. From that time on his name appeared frequently in that publication. His obituary notice in the November, 1930 issue cites a 1911 biographical sketch in which he related that he became interested in coins while living in Richmond and that he became acquainted with Edward Cohen, who was in the banking and brokerage business in that city. One day while in the banker's office (about 1860) a Negro brought into him a lot of silver coins among which he found an 1804 dollar. Mr. Cohen later sold the dollar to his uncle, Col. M. J. Cohen, of Baltimore, for $100. This dollar became the Colonel Cohen 1804 dollar, one of the dozen or so known specimens of this date that many collectors regard as originals.

Even prior to his membership, Ezekiel was placing ads in The Numismatist. His earliest, in the June 1904 issue, offered to buy many types of items from Cincinnati, including shinplasters, store cards, tokens, copperheads, etc., and encased postage stamps. A full page ad in the October 1904 issue announced that in a forthcoming sale of my collection of Paper Money of the Confederate States of America, which I will sell at an early date in New York at Public Auction through Mr. Lyman H. Low, there are a number of large lots of the different denominations and varieties which are in absolutely perfect and uncirculated condition; many of the series, letters and numbers are consecutive and in precisely the same shape as received from the Treasury at Richmond and have been in my possession since the fall of this great stronghold of the Rebellion. I will sell the EXTREMELY RARE Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard silver pieces, much finer and in better condition than those illustrated in the catalogue of, and sold in the Betts sale, Bids by mail or in person by dealers and collectors are respectfully solicited. Catalogues of this and my future sales of Coins, Medals, etc., mailed free on application.

A lengthy article in Charles Theodore Greve's Centennial History of Cincinnati and Representative Citizens, which was published in 1904, included a article by Ezekiel titled Cincinnati Makers of Metal Money, "Hard Times" Tokens and Shop Cards in which he explains that in addition to the manufacturers, or printers and engravers of paper money, there were also a number of die sinkers and stampers of metal pieces, which passed current as money for the value of One Cent each, prior to and during the War of the Rebellion. Among these were the following: V. R. Allen, B. C. True, John Stanton, James M. Murdock, Murdock & Spencer, Joseph J. Sayre and others. These firms also made sutlers' checks, used in the Union Army, milk checks, bar checks, soda water checks, street car checks and checks, or "necessity" coins, of all kinds, payable on demand, which-passed as money in Cincinnati for a standard of value, as stamped thereon.

Ezekiel was well acquainted with two very prolific Civil War token die sinkers, John Stanton and James Murdock, Jr., and he was able to obtain examples of their work from directly them. Among the items offered in his September 1905 sale was an almost complete series of Hard Times Tokens, with many of the very rare types and varieties, and a nearly complete series of the city of Cincinnati Merchants' War Tokens 1862, '63, '64, from A to Z, mostly milled edges and uncirculated, as they came from the dies of John Stanton, War Token manufacturer of Cincinnati.

A fascinating article of interest to collectors was published in the June 4, 1911 edition of The Cincinnati Inquirer. Ezekiel had come to the attention of the reporter because he had run a classified advertisement offering to buy numismatic items from Cincinnati. Concerning the Civil War tokens that circulated in Cincinnati, Ezekiel noted that John Stanton, a die sinker and engraver of Cincinnati, made during the war of the rebellion, 1861-5 more ‘Copperheads,' ‘War Tokens,' ‘Store Cards.' and other metal tokens or checks which passed current as money for the value of ‘one cent,' and for higher values in exchange for merchandise, milk, bread, coal, drayage, &c., than any other die sinker or engraver in the United States. Mr. Stanton is still living at the age of 82, and I am personally acquainted with him. He was born in Orange County, New York on March 9, 1829, and is now in the metal novelty business.

He made the first ones of these War Tokens with the Liberty head and date underneath in 1862, and continued making them in 1863 and 1864 until the close of the war, at about which time the United States Government issued fractional currency, and this put an end to the manufacture of these little metal coins or ‘necessity money,' which were issued by many merchants throughout the United States.

It was early in the war of the rebellion when Mr. Stanton conceived the idea of making these War Tokens which passed for one cent. While at Lafayette, Ind. he saw for the first time one of the patriotic war tokens of the size of a small cent, which gave him the ides that these things might do as business cards, and at the same time issued for the value of one cent. He came back to Cincinnati and proposed the same to a number of Cincinnati merchants, and secured orders for very large quantities. He made these tokens for several hundred firms in Cincinnati, and at this time does not recollect how many firms he supplied, but from the number that are known of by collectors they run into the hundreds……

These little copper War Tokens, Copperheads or Store Cards passed readily as money in value of one cent from hand to hand, and no questions were ever asked in respect to them. They were quite convenient for making change, and no one questioned that the firms or individuals who issued them would redeem them promptly, which, of course, was done, excepting where they were gathered up by collectors and are still held by them.

Mr. Stanton also made quite a number of Sutlers' Checks for most all of the Western regiments that went into the war. He also made, about 1861, the well-known ‘Wealth of the South' series, of which he sold a great many, not only in the North, but in the South, and they were used as tokens, also as badges at the time they were made. He got up a circular describing them and sent the same to all the papers throughout the South at the beginning of the war. They advertised them very extensively and large numbers of them were sold by him. There was considerable Confederate sentiment in and about Cincinnati, where large quantities were disposed of, and they were worn as badges by Southern sympathizers.

As I mentioned earlier, Ezekiel was acquainted with Stanton and Murdock. An ad in the November 1917 issue of The Numismatist announced that a remarkable collection of Civil War tokens would be sold. Known as the J. Murdock, Jr., Collection, it was described as comprised of specimens made by John Stanton and J. Murdock, Jr., Cincinnati die-cutters, from 1862 to 1864. This collection is believed to have been held intact since the war until recently, when it was purchased by Mr. Henry C. Ezekiel of Cincinnati. Mr. Ezekiel has a wonderful collection of Cincinnati War Tokens, and in order to make it more complete if possible, he purchased the Murdock collection as a whole - the only way it could be purchased. Strange to say, he was able to add to his former collection only a very few pieces. He has now decided to dispose of the Murdock collection except for the few pieces he retains, and they will be offered at auction in the East shortly. Practically all the specimens are in uncirculated condition, bright, and many proofs.

Ezekiel's collection wasn't limited to tokens and obsolete currency. It was described as being the most extensive in all branches of numismatics. He has also a large collection of autographs, stamps, historical and literary curiosities, possibly the most extensive of any private collector in the United States. Art was another of Ezekiel's passions, and in 1924 his private Collection of Pictures and Sculptures was sold by the Traxel Art Gallery in Cincinnati. He would have been a fascinating person to know!

For more information about the Civil War Token Society, see:
http://cwtsociety.com/

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
HENRY CLAY EZEKIEL (1846-1930) (https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n14a15.html)

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