Feuchtwanger Tokens (1837-1864)

About This Series

Lewis Feuchtwanger, a German-born New York chemist, produced these tokens to demonstrate his lobbying campaign for Congress to adopt his nickel-silver alloy — roughly 47% copper, 25% zinc, 25% nickel, and 3% tin — for U.S. coinage. His one-cent tokens of 1837 circulated widely during the Hard Times crisis when official cents were hoarded, and his three-cent pieces anticipated a denomination Congress would not authorize until 1851. The distinctive pale silvery alloy gave them an appearance similar to German silver. Feuchtwanger petitioned Congress repeatedly, arguing his alloy was harder, more durable, and more counterfeiting-resistant than copper. Though Congress never adopted his specific composition, the principle proved prescient: the Mint began using copper-nickel for the Flying Eagle cent in 1857 and the three-cent nickel in 1865, validating his core argument decades later. His tokens occupy a unique position as simultaneously Hard Times emergency currency, industrial product samples, and political advocacy pieces documenting early metallurgical innovation in American coinage.