Irv writes: Hi, I found a small collection of copper cents that I can’t seem to find in coin books. I’ll describe several of them. One has an eagle holding a branch in its right talon and arrows in its left with the date 1791 and one cent on one side. George Washington on the other.
Another has an Indian head with Liberty on the head band, 13 stars around the border and dated 1863. On the reverse are crossed cannons with the words Union 63 and 4 flags and some ivy.
The last says ‘Time is money’, ‘EXIGENCY’, horse and rider in the center with a date of 1863. Reverse inscription on the top ‘MUSSEY’S SPECIAL MESSAGE’ and 50 Williams St New York in the middle.
They are in excellent condition. Any idea where they are from (US cents seem to start at 1793). Are they medals? Are they worth anything? Thanks.
What you have are Civil War “store cards” otherwise referred to as tokens.
One of the casualties of the “War” was small change, there wasn’t any. Coins were being hoarded and since necessity is such a good mother, merchants made their own tokens that passed for half-cents to 25 cent denominations. Foundries made a pretty “penny” minting tokens for desperate store owners. Stock or custom designs were offered to be given out in change in lieu of Federal or Confederate coins. No Confederate coinage was ever minted for circulation; people continued to use what Federal coinage was available to keep commerce going. Collectors call these “good-for” tokens “store cards”.
Beginning in about 1861, metallic currency was gradually withdrawn and hoarded as the Civil War became a reality. Tradesman embraced private issue tokens to take the place of increasingly hard-to-get small change, a situation that plagued commerce during the Civil War in the North. There are Washington motifs as well as tokens that looked like Indian cents or ones that just stated that they were “good for” merchandise at a particular establishment. There are many varieties of the ‘Indian Cent’ tokens and they were minted in various base metals such as copper, brass, nickel, copper-nickel, white metal and sometimes even in silver. Collectors try to collect as many varieties as possible.
It seems that you stumbled upon a small hoard of these wonderful tokens. They are very collectable and can bring from a few dollars for the most commonly seen pieces to hundreds of dollars for the rarer types.
Interestingly, the “one cent” pieces were frowned upon by the government as they were essentially counterfeit money and as we all know, only the government can do that . The manufacturers of the ‘one cent’ tokens added the word “not” to mollify the government agents. So, you may also find coins labeled “not one cent” in your collection. Store cards eventually evolved into an advertising medium with the logo or address of the issuing merchant minted into the token.
