I just got this one last week sometime, a bit pricey but so are the George Washington Tokens. If you have one, post a pic! I saw another 1864 exact same as mine and the seller said it was made of German Silver. Whether mine is German Silver or white metal, I haven't a clue, anyone know?
Very nice, I think its an interesting piece. I find it peculiar that they would make a token out of silver... PCGS says they only have graded 2 of them.
German silver has no silver, just the color. German silver [ˈˌjərmən ˈsilvər] NOUN a white alloy of nickel, zinc, and copper.
That makes sense. I thought it was weird that a token would be silver lol. It doesn’t really look like silver either.
The one I was talking about that was made of German Silver is gone off of ebay but here's a similar one with a different reverse, the color of the reverse looks like mine. My only point is white metal and German Silver look very similar. Maybe they determine by comparison or weight, idk. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1864-Abrah...430233?hash=item36794ea159:g:QRgAAOSwKptgTVyZ
@Treashunt beat me to it. German Silver is a term for white metal as it isn't silver at all. A jeweler, or someone, actually stamped this nickel to make sure no one thought it was silver.
The piece you have is made of German silver, and it is moderately scarce. In German silver it is rated as an R-4, 201 to 500 pieces known. As you might have suspected, German silver contains no silver. It is an ally of copper, nickel and maybe some zinc or other white metals. I collect the Lincoln Civil War tokens only by the obverse varieties. There are 12, maybe 13, Lincoln Civil War token obverse dies. Here is my example of obverse die #127. This one is numbered 127/248a. It is made of copper, and it is by far the most common Lincoln variety that was made during the war. Your token is married to the #177 die, which is one of the George Washington statue varieties. There are four of those, and some of them are common. Your piece is flatly struck with a lot of detail missing, especially on the Washington side. German silver is hard and difficult to strike. These tokens are never sharp, even in high grade. That's why I have passed on them as a collector. My goal was to get all of the Lincoln obverse die varieties. If I were to collect all of the die marriages and metals, it would total well over 100 tokens. That really does not interest me, especially when the tokens get pricey, which many Lincoln tokens are.
German silver and white metal look similar, but German silver is a lot harder. At least it is when I would call it "the real thing." As I said earlier, German silver is hard to strike. White metal is soft and easy.
Great, glad you showed up John, I appreciate all the information you shared! Incidentally, I found that other German Silver Token that was on the bay a couple of days before I picked up mine! https://www.ebay.com/itm/Scarce-Ger...27-177j-R4-VF-Lincoln-Washington/265082921097
