Bell-Two
11-27-2011, 07:26 AM
With the rain and Thanksgiving preparations have not gotten out this week but on Friday we went out to my sister-in-laws place for our traditional fish fry so I brought along my detector since their house is from the 1920s. I only had about 45 minutes of daylight in which to hunt, my first and only real good target came up as a 13-46 jumping up to an 17-47 but sounded real good. Dug my plug and first thing I encountered was a large bent rusty nail. The pin pointer was telling me though that something else was in the hole off to the side I retrieved from the side loose dirt what at first I took for a Large Cent and to say I was amazed to find it here would be an understatement. After cleaning it up a bit I realized it was a Hard Times token from 1837. I am still in the process of attributed it as to the designated number and rarity. Front has E. Pluribus Unum, 1837 date, reverse has Millions For Defence and within the wreath Not One Cent For Tribute. Unfortunately I put a small nick in it, I claim that it was do to the large nail that threw my pinpointing off...well that's my story and I am sticking with it.
Tokens of the period 1833 - 1844 are known as Hard Times Tokens, a name given them by Lyman H. Low in 1886 in his book of that title. Hard Times certainly resulted from the Panic of 1837, when specie payments were suspended, and many of these tokens have reference - often satirical - to the events of this period.
Tokens of the period 1833 - 1844 are known as Hard Times Tokens, a name given them by Lyman H. Low in 1886 in his book of that title. Hard Times certainly resulted from the Panic of 1837, when specie payments were suspended, and many of these tokens have reference - often satirical - to the events of this period.