Expert: Neil S Berman - 11/3/2004

Question
I have a copper coin similar to a penny.  One side has a US flag on a pole surrounded by a circle of 13 stars.  It also says "THE FLAG OF OUR UNION" with the date 1863.  The oposite side of the coin has the words "IF ANYBODY ATTEMPTS TO TEAR IT DOWN SHOOT HIM ON THE SPOT" in circles around the letters "DIX" which is in the center.  Do you know anything about this coin?  Where it may be from or what it may be?  I would appreciate any help you could give.  Thank you very much.

Answer
Dear Roberta. What you have is called a patriotic token. During the American Civil War (1861-65) the North ran out of coinage due to the war. The public resorted to using stamps, and later paper in demoninations of one cent, two cents, etc. to a quarter. Private merchants issued their own one cent tokens. There are literaly thousands of types of them, and they can cost a couple of dollars each, up to thousands if they are mint (new) and rare. You have a common one, but they are still fun to collect. Regards. N.