Hard Times Tokens (1824-1860)

About This Series

Born from economic turmoil following President Andrew Jackson's dismantling of the Second Bank of the United States, Hard Times tokens filled a critical gap in circulating coinage during the Panic of 1837. These copper pieces, approximately the size of a large cent, fall into two categories: political satire tokens lampooning Jackson's fiscal policies with imagery of running boars and donkeys, and merchant store cards that local businesses issued as advertising pieces doubling as emergency currency. The Low reference catalog (1899) organized these tokens systematically, while the Rulau-Fuld catalog provides the modern standard. Struck in copper with diameters of 27-29 mm, they circulated alongside official large cents when the government could not maintain adequate small change supplies. Political tokens bearing slogans like "I Take the Responsibility" preserve fierce partisan rhetoric of Jacksonian democracy in metallic form. The series bridges numismatics and political history, documenting grassroots commerce and democratic debate during one of the nation's most consequential economic crises.