Jen444 Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 I have this necklace and curious about the coin or token. I can't seem to find any information. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKK Posted September 19, 2020 Share Posted September 19, 2020 It's not a business strike US coin. My bet is that it's a Civil War era token, of which there are quite a few varieties, so I would go looking for it in a reference of that nature. Finding it might be easier if it were possible to remove it from the bail, though I can see why one might hesitate to do so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenstang Posted September 20, 2020 Share Posted September 20, 2020 Welcome to the Forum. Could you show a picture of the reverse also. As JKK stated, it is not a coin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen444 Posted September 20, 2020 Author Share Posted September 20, 2020 The back can't be seen because of the necklace. I have seen similar searching online but nothing identical. I'll post another picture but only the front. The front has a deep scratch, I'm assuming someone tried removing it before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James_OldeTowne Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Can you please supply a photo with the item next to, or on a ruler? An idea of diameter would help greatly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen444 Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 The coin or token I'm guessing is either nickel or lead. I cleaned it off and that's why I'm leaning to lead which is soft and scares me even more to try and remove it out of the necklace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen444 Posted September 21, 2020 Author Share Posted September 21, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) A token minted in 1859 would have been during the time of the U.S. Merchant tokens - (1845-1860) - after Hard Times and pre- Civil War. There is nothing listed in Rulau that matches yours. In fact I could only find one Indian Head token for the whole period, issued by a company in New York, and it is not a match. It also does not match any Civil War tokens that I could find, although the illustrations in Rulau are fuzzy for some of the examples. I can't imagine why a Civil War token would have a date of 1859, though. Without seeing the reverse, it will be impossible to say for sure, but my opinion is that it is neither a coin nor a token, but a "replica" piece made for the purpose of mounting in jewelry. Oddly, there was one like it on Ebay over the weekend, but it is gone now. It was listed for $100, but I can assure you that this is a very "optimistic" price. I doubt it is worth more than $15 - $20 at most. Edited September 21, 2020 by Just Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKK Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 The joker in the deck, of course, is that we can't be certain the date represents the actual date of mintage. But I agree that it doesn't look like penny material from the era. A jewelry replica sounds quite probable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Whatever it is, it is probably worth more in the encasement than out. Don't try to remove it. You will likely cause more damage, and destroy what value it has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...