Expert: PAPAJACK - 6/19/2008

Question
I have two unusual coins.One is dated 1864 and on one side says "our navy"and on the other side has an relief of an iron clad vessel.The other one says "tHE FEDERAL UNION IT MUST AND SHALL BE PRESERVED" AND ON THE side says "OUR NAVY" . What are they. Thank you.

Answer
Hello Win,                        

This is not a USA coin it is token.
Sorry I cannot narrow this down for you, it is one of the many Civil War tokens made to replace the missing coins that were hoarded by everyone.

There is the Token and medal Society (TAMS) that may be able to help.
They catalog all these type tokens and many others their url is below.

What you describe are Patriotic Civil War Token. Tokens are not coins but this issue was made to replace the coins missing from circulation due to the Civil War, stores could not make change for their customers.  

Some were made in large quantity since there was hoarding of all copper, silver and gold coins during the civil war. They were needed for everyday commerce.

They usually sell from $8 to $14 dollars depending on the issue.

You can get more information about tokens from
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/coinNews/coinOfTheMonth/2001/04.cfm
http://www.cwtsociety.com/history.html
http://www.tokenandmedal.org/
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=token%2C+1...

I hope this information helps. Please remember to rate this answer

Good Luck

PapaJack