Anti-Slave Token

[dean1345]

The token was issued by the Abolitionist Movement to promote the cause. Sojourner Truth with her dialect changed the question to “Ain’t I a Woman”.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a 1838 anti-slave token inspired by the speech of Sojourner Truth.

 

“Ain’t I A Woman?” is the name given to a speech, delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth, (1797-1883), born Isabella Baumfree, a slave, in New York State. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti-slavery speaker. Her speech, which became known as Ain’t I a Woman? was delivered at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio on May 29, 1851.

 

Truth argued that while American antebellum (pre-Civil War) culture often placed white women upon a pedestal and gave them certain privileges (most notably that of not working), this attitude was not extended to black women.

 

 

 

[Hard Times]

Very nice dean (thumbs u Here is another. You can see your obverse die crack is in a state of developing on my specimen.

 

[dean1345]

Hard Times............I like the toning on your token!

[TomB]

These are very cool and quite important. I like these very much and am glad you posted this because I think the vast majority of collectors are not aware of the token.

[Bugmann1974]

Dean, I like it very much, It looks like it has a significant planchet crack as well.

 

I will soon be actively looking for both a "Am I not a Woman" and a "Am I not a man" tokens.

 

Who is a good dealer to go to for these?

[Hard Times]

HI Dean,

Thanks, I like the rich brown surfaces of yours, and in retrospect, I agree with Bugmann that that is a planchet crack rather and a die crack. And thanks for posting, I agree this is a historically significant piece. It is ranked #10 in the '100 Greatest American Medals and Tokens' book by Jaeger and Bowers. I got my specimen at the Houston Money show a few years back. My piece explodes with luster under the light. The asking price was a fortune for an HT, but I went back the next day and pulled the trigger. Lucky for me, I think there is about 5 of us who collect HT's so it was okay to think about it for a day.

Bugmann, there was a dealer two years back at the Houston Money show who had about a dozen of these. My advice to find one is just continue to peruse auction sites, ebay and token dealers at shows. They can be found and you can wait and pick a piece that you want.

[Hard Times]

The 'Am I Not a Man and a Brother' token, HT-82, is extremely rare (3 known), and is valued at $50K to 80K in VF20-35. The Ford specimen, graded Good, went for $71,875 in the Stacks 2004 auction of the Ford Collection Part IV.

 

The motif for the Brother token was originally on British Trade tokens of the 1790's, i.e. Conder tokens. Several different varieties are known and valuations are nowhere near that of the rare Brother variety during HT times in the US. These include Middlesex DH-233-238 and DH-1039, all of which are rated 'common' by Dalton and Hamer. Interestingly, no 'Woman' variety is known from the Conder series. In either case, wonderful tokens, I would love to have them all.......

[Bugmann1974]

I would be going for one of the Conders on the Brother token for sure

[Hard Times]

Me too!

[rbrown4]

I definitely agree with Tom, quite a remarkable token that I was not aware of and what an interesting origin as well. It is always nice to find things new that warrent further investigation.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

Rey

[michael]

get the "brother" british conder token and then it will not be 75k just under $100 depending on the grade

 

the "sister" is usually****** available and quite significant besides historical

 

 

**** usually***** but the last few years i have seen this common usually available token not so available TO THE POINT OF WHERE THEY ARE GETTING quite scarce to locate in decent undamaged condition

 

 

 

[physics-fan3.14]

Very cool. Is it just me, or are the backwards N's on the reverse driving y'all crazy?

[James_OldeTowne]

Sojourner Truth is one of those severely under appreciated great Americans of the 19th century. Seriously, rather than quarters dedicated to state parks and other nonsense, why not a series featuring sadly neglected Americans?

[cpm9ball]

Very cool. Is it just me, or are the backwards N's on the reverse driving y'all crazy?

 

For someone who collects Franklins, I wouldn't think that would be an issue.

 

Chris

[WinstonWare]

very cool

[physics-fan3.14]

Very cool. Is it just me, or are the backwards N's on the reverse driving y'all crazy?

 

For someone who collects Franklins, I wouldn't think that would be an issue.

 

Chris

 

Ooh, low blow old man

[disme]

The token was issued by the Abolitionist Movement to promote the cause. Sojourner Truth with her dialect changed the question to “Ain’t I a Woman”.

 

This is a 1838 anti-slave token inspired by the speech of Sojourner Truth. “Ain’t I A Woman?” is the name given to a speech, delivered extemporaneously, by Sojourner Truth, (1797-1883), born Isabella Baumfree, a slave, in New York State. Some time after gaining her freedom in 1827, she became a well known anti-slavery speaker. Her speech, which became known as Ain’t I a Woman? was delivered at the Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio on May 29, 1851.

 

Truth argued that while American antebellum (pre-Civil War) culture often placed white women upon a pedestal and gave them certain privileges (most notably that of not working), this attitude was not extended to black women.

 

These tokens were first issued by the Anti-Slavery League in late 1837. The organization’s headquarters

were on Nassau Street in New York City.

 

This particular token was one of several that was brought to the attention of the Treasury Department by

Mint Director R.M. Patterson in December 1837. These issues, which passed for a cent, disrupted the

profits of the Mint on copper coinage. The Treasury threatened the manufacturers and distributors with

court action under an 1825 law and the issues stopped.

 

Disme

[coinsarefun]

Very nice Dean!

 

 

I happen to have one as well. Mine is the larger planchet

 

 

 

1838 HT-81A Am I not a Woman and A Sister copper 27mm NGC AU55BN R3

 

 

 

 

and interesting side note is another token.

 

This is a Merchant Card for

W.W. Wilbur of Charleston, S.C. Auctioneer. It never really states what he really made

his big money in and that was slave auctions.

 

 

 

 

And I used to own the Conder Version of this token

 

 

 

Instead I sold that one and purchased this quite rare Conder

 

Middlesex D&H 235 White Metal RR+ NGC AU58

 

 

 

 

 

[ChazE215]

Here are the 2 that I have:

 

HT 81A R3 AU50

 

Middlesex 1038C MS63 BN

[conderluva]

Great tokens everyone. Nice strike on that HT-81a Stef!!! Amazing pieces of history and affordable too which makes them really attractive buys for any collector (part of the reason why I chose to illustrate one on the cover of the digital Conder token quick reference.)

[conderluva]

Here's a fun adjunct of sorts...another Conder token...farthing issued by Thomas Spence. Middlesex DH 1104.

 

Lots of die clashing below the kneeling slave.