(1869) Bronze Token Rulau Pa-Ph 44, Dickeson's

Coin Details

Auction Record

$960 MS63BN 11-26-2024 Stack's Bowers

Description

Bronze token or medal associated with Montroville Wilson Dickeson (1810-1882), the Philadelphia physician, archaeologist, and numismatist, produced circa 1869. Dr. Dickeson was famous for his Panorama of the Monumental Grandeur of the Mississippi Valley, a massive painted scroll depicting Native American mound sites he had personally excavated. He was also a prominent coin collector and dealer who produced various tokens, medals, and numismatic publications. Dickeson's archaeological work along the Mississippi River made him one of early America's most colorful scientific figures. Bronze, 28mm. The decades following the Civil War witnessed both economic expansion and the emergence of organized coin collecting, as specialized dealers and auction houses established the numismatic marketplace. Philadelphia tokens benefit from the city's role as the nation's first capital and its long tradition of metalworking, from the U.S. Mint to private die sinkers like Robert Lovett Jr.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. Token associated with Dr. Montroville Wilson Dickeson, one of Philadelphia's most colorful 19th-century figures, combining medicine, archaeology, and numismatics. Dickeson's tokens and medals are collected by specialists in Philadelphia numismatica and early American archaeological history.

Cross References

Rulau Pa-Ph 44; PCGS #964865