Expert: Ronald Fern - 9/7/2011

Question
Mr. Fern,

I was wondering if this token has any worth to a political memorabilia collector. I have search around trying to find one for sale but have had no luck. If it is potentially worthless I don't have a need to hang onto it. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Christopher:

Thanks for your question. What you have is most likely a token struck during the campaign of 1896 to elect William Jennings Bryan, the Democratic Party nominee, President of the United States. Bryan money is considered to be pro-McKinley in the 1896 presidential election. The original tokens are scarce to rare, and there are a number of different sizes and types.

With respect to Satirical Bryan Money, Farran Zerbe states: "The Satirical class comprises those pieces of numerous variety in size material with derisive or humorous inscription or design. Most all are casts; a few were struck. Type metal, or some composition of lead and aluminum were the most commonly generally used materials, with iron, copper, tin and cardboard contributing a few varieties". Some were heavily counterfeited. You should have this piece looked at professionally to establish the authenticity.

I'd suggest that you limit yourself to the Professional Numismatic Guild (PNG) dealers. Here's a link to find ones in your area: http://www.pngdealers.com/dealersearch.php

Here's a link on Bryan Dollars: http://www.so-calleddollars.com/Events/Bryan_Dollars.html

Do NOT attempt to clean it, as you could destroy the value. There are excellent holders available on the web or at many coin shops to help protect your collectible. Here are a couple of links:
http://www.coinsupplystore.com/
https://collectorssupplyco.com/catalog/

I'm providing a Wikipedia link that gives an excellent history of Bryan, and what he stood for, "Free Silver". The link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Jennings_Bryan  

I also found one example of a active listing on eBay for a Bryan piece. It ; little similar to yours. Here's the listing:
http://cgi.ebay.com/HK-SCD-BRYAN-MONEY-1896-16-1-VERY-RARE-121TOKEN-MEDAL-/35044

You may want to check eBay listings in the exonumia category under coins and currency from time to time to see if tokens like yours are listed and what they are going for. I found two completed listings for SCD HK#780 and HK#781 listed for $290 to $390, which did not sell.

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Thank You and Good Luck in your collecting.