#146-CIVIL WAR SALE: HIGH GRADE MONITOR TOKEN, OUR NAVY, 1864 DATED & SMALL PLANCHET CLIP

This is just about the best example of this Civil War Monitor token I've found. It historically is lightly struck and even the best of these looks worn even when they're BU. The die engraved detail of the ship and its surrounding features are simply not very good.

If you're not very familiar with these facts about the Monitor token please look at front part of the deck of the ship below the American flag--and there are four "somethings" that I think might be intended to be sailors, but I don't know this for certain. If you look at the center of the token where you can see the "canopy" above the turret. You rarely see the open detail with this token and you can distinguish it here.

And since I'm providing more questions than answers, unless my eyes are playing tricks on me, I believe there are TWELVE stars above the ship. Clearly stars are a common dersign element on many Civil War and other patriotic tokens. And in almost every case, there are 13, representing the original 13 colonies, of course. I don't have any asnwer to the "why". In fact, in typical designs you would have 7 stars above and 6 below, aligned so that the top row is balanced with both ends of the row equally spaced above the other row. You can see that the design makes you wonder if the stars were logically (to a die sinker) placed or randomly done--and they seem a little of both.

But these are characteristics of how the token was designerd and the die engraved. They have nothing to do with the grade or "value" of the token.

The reverse also illustrates the common soft strike of this particular token. And while it probably isn't something you would ask about, I wonder about the word "OUR" above Navy.

Looking at "OUR" the "U" doesn't look at all like that letter. It seems to have a "top" to it. After I looked/wasted far more time than I should have, I think I could see that problem was with the use of a font different than in the word "Navy." I believe the verticals of the the letter "U" are such that they almost touch.

All of these comments have little to do with any decision about owning the token. Bottom line, despite the odd little quirks of design, this is one of the highest grades of this particular token that you're likely to find.

I also made the decision to keep the other Monitor token that is dark and a grade below this one. As a lifelong collector, and a buyer for resale, I appreciate having two different examples of the same token or coin. And it's nice to be able to make one's own decision about which is more desirable comparing price and grade. It's great to have two tokens to compare and study the grades. For all my comments, I purchased both of these Monitor tokens because I personally like them. That is just subjectivity and you have a choice of one over the other--or both--or neither. Thanks for your patience.