(1861-65) Brass Civil War Store Card F-95D-8b, T. Ivory NY

Coin Details

Description

Civil War merchant token bearing the name of T. Ivory in New York. T. Ivory operated a billiard saloon at the corner of Fulton and Orange Streets in Brooklyn. His tokens feature a bust of George Washington on the reverse inscribed "THE WASHINGTON TOKEN. 1863." One variety was struck over an 1857 Seated Liberty Dime, with traces of the original coin still visible — making overstrike varieties especially prized among specialists. The brass composition of this variety (Fuld 95D-8b) is common to somewhat scarce for this merchant. Token manufacturers struck pieces by the thousands, using hand-fed screw presses capable of producing several hundred tokens per hour. Between 1862 and 1864, Northern merchants produced millions of private tokens to compensate for the disappearance of federal coinage. The brass composition gives this token a warm golden tone that contrasts with the reddish-brown of copper strikings.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more available metal variants, though typically less common than copper. With 27 cataloged varieties, T. Ivory was a moderately active token issuer.

Cross References

Fuld 95D-8b