Leave-No-Coins-Behind
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Today, I went to an older park next to a school. This is the first time I hunted this location.
My interesting find of the day, was 1841 Mint Drop coin/token that I found in the adjacent woods. At first I thought it was a large cent or even a copper. It is about the same size as a LC or copper. I had never seen or heard of such a token/coin prior to today. It now has to be one of my most interesting finds.
After researching it at home, I discovered it was privately minted token/coin that was used for money and as a political statement against the Federal Reserve Bank during the USA 1830-40's depression era.
Here is a Google insert about the coin/token~
The era of the late 1830’s into the 1840’s was a period of economic depression in the U.S. The battle was between proponents of the Bank of the United States, a private institution and President Andrew Jackson who wanted to abolish it. Many privately issued tokens were struck to take the place of hoarded Federal money. These “hard times” tokens also became political propaganda instruments.
The “Mint Drops” were hard money advocates and “Bentonian Currency” refers to Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a supporter of President Jackson’s hard money policies. This substitute for a U.S. large cent was a statement of hard money versus unbacked, inflating paper money (sarcastically called “shinplasters” as they were “only good for stuffing in your socks to keep warm in the winter” that were issued by the private, Bank of the United States).
“Hard Times” Tokens are popularly collected as they have interesting designs and tell the story of the economic struggles of this era. As with coins, condition and variety play and important role in value.
Other than that, it was a good overall day with the usual clad, a couple of old buttons and several wheat cents too.
I think I will be going back to this location again in the future...
Thanks for taking the time to read my post!
My interesting find of the day, was 1841 Mint Drop coin/token that I found in the adjacent woods. At first I thought it was a large cent or even a copper. It is about the same size as a LC or copper. I had never seen or heard of such a token/coin prior to today. It now has to be one of my most interesting finds.
After researching it at home, I discovered it was privately minted token/coin that was used for money and as a political statement against the Federal Reserve Bank during the USA 1830-40's depression era.
Here is a Google insert about the coin/token~
The era of the late 1830’s into the 1840’s was a period of economic depression in the U.S. The battle was between proponents of the Bank of the United States, a private institution and President Andrew Jackson who wanted to abolish it. Many privately issued tokens were struck to take the place of hoarded Federal money. These “hard times” tokens also became political propaganda instruments.
The “Mint Drops” were hard money advocates and “Bentonian Currency” refers to Senator Thomas Hart Benton, a supporter of President Jackson’s hard money policies. This substitute for a U.S. large cent was a statement of hard money versus unbacked, inflating paper money (sarcastically called “shinplasters” as they were “only good for stuffing in your socks to keep warm in the winter” that were issued by the private, Bank of the United States).
“Hard Times” Tokens are popularly collected as they have interesting designs and tell the story of the economic struggles of this era. As with coins, condition and variety play and important role in value.
Other than that, it was a good overall day with the usual clad, a couple of old buttons and several wheat cents too.
I think I will be going back to this location again in the future...
Thanks for taking the time to read my post!
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