(No Date) Civil War Patriotic Token F-56/161b, Our Army

Coin Details

Auction Record

$204 MS64 08-22-2018 Stack's Bowers

Description

Civil War patriotic token combining Fuld obverse die 56, a military-themed obverse with "OUR ARMY" inscription, with reverse die 161 bearing the inscription "OUR ARMY" within a wreath. A tribute to the Union Army defending the republic on battlefields across the South. This obverse belongs to a family of military-themed dies spanning slogans, weapons, and patriotic declarations. The variety of designs in this range shows how die sinkers competed to capture the wartime public's appetite for patriotic imagery. The brass composition, while less common than copper, produced tokens with a distinctive yellow-gold appearance. Waterbury, Connecticut — the brass capital of America — supplied much of the raw material for token production. Undated, but produced during the wartime token era of 1862-1864 when Americans hoarded federal coins and merchants turned to privately struck substitutes. Die sinkers produced patriotic tokens on hand-operated screw presses capable of striking several hundred pieces per hour. The largest manufacturers maintained multiple presses and employed teams of workers to meet the enormous wartime demand.

Rarity Notes

Fuld 56/161b. Die pairing: obverse 56, reverse 161. Brass strikes are less common than copper. The Fuld rarity scale ranges from R-1 (over 5,000 known) to R-10 (unique); survival depends on the specific die combination, metal, and condition.

Cross References

Fuld 56/161b