THE LAST PATRIOTIC CIVIL WAR TOKEN?

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V27 2024 INDEX E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 27, Number 39, September 29, 2024, Article 13

IMHO this is probably the last patriotic civil war token made. Since I can't find this token listed anywhere, I am left speculating. One side shows a 36 star flag, which would indicate that the issue corresponded with the admission of Nevada as the 36th state, which occurred in October, 1864. The US flag is modified only on July 4th of each year, so an official 36 stag flag would have been made in July, 1865. 36 star flags have a pattern of stars in a circle, so the pictured flag with 36 stars in a square would indicate a date for this token that most likely predates the official flag, possibly even slightly predating the admission of Nevada as a state. While private issues of coins became illegal in July, 1864, the maker of this token probably was not aware of that law being passed. Lord knows I can't keep up with all the new laws being passed.

The other side shows an image similar to the California state seal. The maker probably only had access to a written description of the seal and not an actual sketch, because of all the differences. Because of the general similarity, the designer may have previously seen an image. Notable differences are that the bear is laying down as opposed to crouching to eat grapes or standing, as is currently on the state seal. There is not an image of a miner, but a wheel and an anchor. There is a cornucopia. The shield is lined as opposed to the head of Medusa. It still says EUREKA, but it is barely readable. The mountains are probably supposed to be the Sierras as originally planned, but later versions of the seal likely show San Francisco bay as viewed from the top of Yerba Buena Island with Fort Point on the peninsula and the 3 peaks of mount Tamalpais to the right.

In 1863 there were almost as many civil war tokens minted as US cents, so likely a number of them made their way to California, and were accepted for trade. Information about their illegality and lack of acceptance probably did not occur until after this token was made. There are no other types of similar sized tokens made in the ensuing years, so it is hard to think that the intention of the maker was to do anything other than make a patriotic civil war token. This may have been made from melted down large cents because the color looks about right for that and the melt value of the copper in a large cent was about 25% greater than face value, but still less than half the melt value of a small cent. I can only speculate that this is not listed in the standard reference for civil war tokens because it is not common and probably didn't migrate back to the east coast where people were actively collecting and documenting civil war tokens.

The weight of this example is 4.44 grams which more closely corresponds with the 4.67 gram weight of the 1863 cents and opposed to the 3.11 gram weight of the later 1864 cents. It measures 19mm across, the same as most civil war tokens.

"I see nothing to suggest that this is a Civil War token. There is no indication of a value, and if someone was issuing a token for use as a coin he would probably include it, especially in a state like California where CWTs weren't issued. As for dating the piece because of the incorrect arrangement of the stars, as he points out later, the representation of the state seal also has inaccuracies, suggesting that the die sinker wasn't overly concerned about exactness. The 37th state, Nebraska, was admitted in March 1867, so it seems more likely that it was issued after the war ended rather than during it. It would be interesting to see the piece; it is even possible that it was the inset in a larger medal. Bottom line, in my opinion it would be very optimistic to consider it a CWT."