United States · private exonumia
1834 Hard Times token — HT-10A / Low-9B
Political token of 1834: a running boar and a military bust of Andrew Jackson. It is catalogued as HT-10A (Low-9B), silvered brass, from the narrow-shouldered portrait and the silver-gray surface. No face value, no serial, and unslabbed. Weight, diameter, and edge of this example were not measured.
Catalog facts
- Year
- 1834
- Mint
- Private striking; no federal mint or named manufacturer is assigned
- Denomination
- Political token (no face value on the piece)
- Composition
- Silvered brass (published metal of type HT-10A; this specimen was not assayed)
- Weight
- Not weighed for this record
- Diameter
- 28.5 mm (Fisher type measurement; this specimen was not measured)
- Edge
- Plain on the published type; no edge photograph
- Condition
- Unslabbed. Strong design detail, fine hairlines, and uneven gray toning. Not a numerical grade.
- References
- HT-10A · Low-9B · DeWitt CE-1834-10 · W-10-210b · PCGS 77621
Obverse
Reverse
The coin
This piece is an 1834 political Hard Times token, large-cent module, struck privately. It carries no face value. The catalogued obverse is the boar, running left above a ground line. The arc reads PERISH CREDIT at left, PERISH above, and COMMERCE at right. Above the animal, MY VICTORY; on the body, MY / THIRD HEAT; below, DOWN WITH THE / BANK and the date 1834. A beaded border. The snout points toward CREDIT, the marker Fisher uses for the narrow-shouldered die of HT-10 and HT-10A. The reverse is a small military bust of Andrew Jackson, with MY on the chest. The arc reads MY SUBSTITUTE FOR THE U.S. BANK. Below: EXPERIMENT, MY, CURRENCY, MY, GLORY. Two rosettes flank the bust. The surface in the photographs is silver-gray, the published look of silvered-brass HT-10A. Copper of this design is HT-9, and unsilvered brass on a thick planchet is HT-10. This example was not weighed or measured, and there is no edge photograph: the subvariety rests on the design and the color of the metal, not on an assay. No serial and no holder.
Legends
- Obverse
- PERISH CREDIT · PERISH · COMMERCE · MY VICTORY · MY / THIRD HEAT on the boar · DOWN WITH THE / BANK · 1834.
- Reverse
- MY SUBSTITUTE FOR THE U.S. BANK · EXPERIMENT · MY · CURRENCY · MY · GLORY. MY on the bust’s chest.
History
The token belongs to the Bank War. The repeated MY caricatures Jackson’s banking and currency policy as a personal program. PERISH CREDIT and PERISH COMMERCE, with DOWN WITH THE BANK, state the charge that dismantling the Second Bank of the United States would ruin credit and commerce. It is not United States Mint coin. Fisher records HT-10A as Low-9B, silvered brass, 28.5 mm, a thin planchet, snout toward the C of CREDIT, and a narrow-shouldered bust; HT-10 is the same portrait in brass on a thick planchet. DeWitt CE-1834-10, Wright W-10-210b, and PCGS number 77621 are the catalog cross-references of that silvered variety. Fisher marks it R-3; recent Heritage listings have used R-2. No mintage is published. The planchet carries no engraver’s signature, and no manufacturer is assigned. The photographs show strong design detail, fine hairlines, and uneven gray toning; no numerical grade is assigned, and the silvering is not asserted to be original. No provenance is recorded here.
Scarcity and type
R-3 on Fisher’s record; recent Heritage listings have used R-2. It is a type rarity, not a mintage. No mintage is published. The silvering is read from the photographs and was not assayed. No prices or slab census are republished.
Certification
No holder and no numerical grade. The photographs show the legends, the date, fine hairlines, and uneven gray toning. They do not certify that the silvering is original, and they do not replace weight, diameter, or edge. No serial.
Sources
- Alan S. Fisher — Hard Times Token Collection, HT-10 and HT-10A (opens in a new tab)
HT-10A, Low-9B, silvered brass, 28.5 mm, thin planchet, snout toward CREDIT, narrow shoulders, R-3. HT-10 is brass on a thick planchet. Not this example; no price is republished.
- NGC — 1834 HT-10A Running Boar (opens in a new tab)
Catalog number HT-10A in the Rulau series. No prices or census are republished.
- Wikipedia — Bank War (opens in a new tab)
Context for Jackson’s veto of the Second Bank of the United States. Prices are not republished.
Related pieces
Another piece in the United States collection.
