1860 Stephen A. Douglas Presidential Campaign token !

[Trezurehunter]

What a Great piece of political history. We all know who he ran against in the 1860 Presidential election. (If you didn't know, it was Abraham Lincoln). Since our farmers aren't planting because of rain, I am still able to get into the fields. My first hit was this token, although I had no clue as to what it was when I dug it. All I knew, is that I could see some letters on it. This is a real political token, not a Shell Oil or Cracker Jack token. The first pic is when it was dug, and the last pic is after 3 hours of electrolysis. I know you can't read the lettering, but it says "1860 Stephen A Douglas" on one side, and "1860 Herschel V. Johnson" on the opposite side, with a place in the center of the token for their campaign pictures. Also pulled a 1918 Wheat, whats left of a pocket knife, and a Radd 775 Model A or Model T spark plug. No silver today, but I'm happy to add that great political token to my collection. It will go right along side the other "real" political tokens that I have found, Andrew Jackson, Millard Fillmore, and Franklin Pierce. It was just a relic filled day today, and I'm glad I took the Equinox 800 along for the ride.

 

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[Professor of Engineering]

Congrats...great piece of history!

 

[DigginNorthernVa]

What an awesome find! You had a great hunt!

 

[Silvermonkey]

That token is fantastic! What a great save!

 

[washingtonian]

Way to go on a neat find!

 

[parsonwalker]

T-Hunter: I absolutely JUMPED when I saw your post! I have never heard of another one being found until you. Thought you might be interested that I found one (holed) on the Cold Harbor Battlefield in the early 70s. I've found some nice relics, but still consider this to be one of my most interesting finds. Here's pics of mine . . .

 

[Trezurehunter]

T-Hunter: I absolutely JUMPED when I saw your post! I have never heard of another one being found until you. Thought you might be interested that I found one (holed) on the Cold Harbor Battlefield in the early 70s. I've found some nice relics, but still consider this to be one of my most interesting finds. Here's pics of mine . . .

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Wow, Yours is in great shape. Did you do anything specific to clean it ? I would like to clean mine up a little bit better, but have it cleaned enough to identify it. According to my research, they were all "holed" at the top to allow for a small ribbon to be threaded thru it so it could be worn. Mine has a hole in it, in the exact spot that yours does but it's a little hard to see it in the pic. Its at the top, in the lower picture. You can barely see a smidgen of my gray table coming thru it. Congrats to you also on an excellent piece of political memorabilia. If you can, get back to me on how you cleaned yours. I just used electrolysis.

 

[diggingthe1]

That’s so cool, I was just looking at examples with pictures at the American Heritage Musuem in Washington! Maybe you could find a photo to replace the one that’s gone. What a rare find!!!

 

[parsonwalker]

Wow, Yours is in great shape. Did you do anything specific to clean it ? I would like to clean mine up a little bit better, but have it cleaned enough to identify it. According to my research, they were all "holed" at the top to allow for a small ribbon to be threaded thru it so it could be worn. Mine has a hole in it, in the exact spot that yours does but it's a little hard to see it in the pic. Its at the top, in the lower picture. You can barely see a smidgen of my gray table coming thru it. Congrats to you also on an excellent piece of political memorabilia. If you can, get back to me on how you cleaned yours. I just used electrolysis.

Cold Harbor sand is remarkable in its ability to preserve. Believe it or not, that is exactly how I found it. I blew the loose sand off, and there it was. Good luck with yours. The idea that they ran against Lincoln is cool to me. Also that he died at only 48 (Douglas) in 1861.

But you taught me something: I didn't know about the hole/ribbon.

Just a suggestion: If you can see some gold gilt, immerse it in Vinegar for about 30 seconds. If improvement is possible, you'll see more gold within about 15 seconds. Give it a GOOD rinse with water after 30 seconds. Get ALL the vinegar off. You can try it a second time (let it dry first) but be careful. Vinegar can really bring out the gold on a gilted CW button like a New York. But it will peel the gold right off if you leave it in too long.

I bet we're a pretty exclusive club, having found these!

 

[Trezurehunter]

Cold Harbor sand is remarkable in its ability to preserve. Believe it or not, that is exactly how I found it. I blew the loose sand off, and there it was. Good luck with yours. The idea that they ran against Lincoln is cool to me. Also that he died at only 48 (Douglas) in 1861.

But you taught me something: I didn't know about the hole/ribbon.

Just a suggestion: If you can see some gold gilt, immerse it in Vinegar for about 30 seconds. If improvement is possible, you'll see more gold within about 15 seconds. Give it a GOOD rinse with water after 30 seconds. Get ALL the vinegar off. You can try it a second time (let it dry first) but be careful. Vinegar can really bring out the gold on a gilted CW button like a New York. But it will peel the gold right off if you leave it in too long.

I bet we're a pretty exclusive club, having found these!

Thanks for the advice. I found mine in a farmers field, that's why it's a little crusty. All those chemicals over the course of the years just got to it, but at least I can identify it. I do know one thing, I had never seen one posted until I found mine, and then you put yours on the forum, and ours were found roughly 45 years apart. I have researched them, and you can buy non - dug examples that are out there, but they are not common, and that's not much fun anyway. It's way more fun to dig an item (in my opinion), knowing that it was lost by someone. If you want to start the club, I nominate you for President ! You found your's first.

 

[Hawks88]

Nice save. Congrats