United States · private exonumia

1837 Hard Times token — HT-34 / Low-20

Copper token HT-34 (Low-20), 1837: a galloping jackass and a tortoise with a SUB TREASURY chest. Neither face carries a denomination; the module is that of a large cent. R-1 on the Hard Times/Fuld scale, not Sheldon. No serial and unslabbed.

Catalog facts

Year: 1837
Mint: Private striking; no federal mint or named manufacturer is assigned
Denomination: Large-cent module token (no face value on the piece)
Composition: Copper (published composition of type HT-34, not an assay of this specimen)
Weight: Not weighed for this record
Diameter: ≈ 28.5 mm (type measurement; this specimen was not measured)
Edge: Plain (published type; no separate edge photograph)
Condition: Unslabbed. Legends and date legible in the photographs; not a numerical grade.
References: HT-34 · Low-20 · DeWitt CE-1838-4 · W-11-540a · R-1

Obverse, 1837 Hard Times token HT-34 / Low-20 — Obverse: galloping jackass; I FOLLOW IN THE STEPS OF MY ILLUSTRIOUS PREDECESSOR.

Obverse: galloping jackass; I FOLLOW IN THE STEPS OF MY ILLUSTRIOUS PREDECESSOR.

Reverse, 1837 Hard Times token HT-34 / Low-20 — Reverse: tortoise with SUB TREASURY chest; EXECUTIVE FINANCIERING 1837 FISCAL AGENT.

Reverse: tortoise with SUB TREASURY chest; EXECUTIVE FINANCIERING 1837 FISCAL AGENT.

The coin

This piece is a copper Hard Times token, large-cent module, struck privately in 1837 to circulate as small change. The obverse — the donkey — reads I FOLLOW IN THE STEPS OF MY ILLUSTRIOUS PREDECESSOR: ILLUSTRIOUS on the upper arc, PREDECESSOR on the lower, I FOLLOW IN THE above the animal, STEPS under the body, and OF MY below the ground. On this example the rearward ear appears to meet the I in IN, a relationship Heritage uses to distinguish HT-34 from a piece mislabeled HT-33. Rosettes and a beaded border. The reverse — the turtle facing right — carries a banded, riveted chest with a side handle, SUB TREASURY in two lines; EXECUTIVE on the upper arc, FINANCIERING — so spelled, not “financing” — on the lower; 1837 under the ground and FISCAL AGENT under the date. It is not a Mint cent and not HT-33 (EXECUTIVE EXPERIMENT). No serial and no holder.

Legends

Obverse: I FOLLOW IN THE STEPS OF MY ILLUSTRIOUS PREDECESSOR. ILLUSTRIOUS above; PREDECESSOR below; STEPS under the donkey; the rear ear meets the I in IN.
Reverse: EXECUTIVE (upper arc) · FINANCIERING (lower arc, so spelled) · SUB TREASURY on the chest · 1837 · FISCAL AGENT.

History

The obverse legend parodies Van Buren’s Jacksonian continuity: accepting the Democratic nomination in May 1835 he pledged to “tread generally in the footsteps of President Jackson”; the 4 March 1837 inaugural followed that line. The copper is not a verbatim sentence: it reads STEPS, not “footsteps.” In September 1837 he proposed the Independent Treasury — federal funds in government custody, not in a national bank or pet banks — which Congress did not enact until 1840. The token belongs to that controversy. Douglas Mudd (ANA Money Museum) reads the tortoise and SUB TREASURY as a satire of the slowness and alleged insecurity of moving gold and silver among scattered sub-treasuries; that partisan charge is reported, not adopted. Low-20; Rulau HT-34; DeWitt CE-1838-4 — the 1838 does not change the 1837 date — and Heritage adds W-11-540a. R-1 is a type rarity, not a mintage. PCGS gives no mintage or engraver. No provenance is recorded here.

Scarcity and type

R-1 (Heritage / Rulau-Fuld): a type rarity, not a mintage. PCGS publishes no mintage. The gray look of the photographs does not prove silver: type HT-34 is catalogued as copper, and no planchet-color designation is assigned here. No prices or slab census are republished.

Certification

No holder. The photographs show the principal legends and date; they do not replace an in-hand grade. Type attribution is not a certificate of authenticity for this copper. No serial.