60%

Political 1896 Bryan Money Medal, One Dime, 1896 Presidential Election

Share On:

Original price was: $52.75.Current price is: $31.65.

Category:
Meta:
Composition : Lead
Type : Medal
Seller Notes : “Circulated”
Country/Region of Manufacture : United States
Circulated/Uncirculated : Circulated

This is a piece of Bryan money which reads Free Silver, One Dime, 1896. This piece is from the 1896 Presidential election. It is 44mm, 31 grams of what is called type metal. It has Scornstein #326 . There are scratches on the obv. & rev. Bryan Money is a term used by numismatists to refer to tokens and medals associated with William Jennings Bryan ‘s platform during the United States presidential elections of 1896 and 1900 . Bryan’s platform advocated for the reinstatement of silver currency in the United States economy as part of the short-lived Silver Republican Party . The Silverites referred to the inscription used on the edge of the first silver dollars, 1794-1804, “HUNDRED CENTS ONE DOLLAR OR UNIT” as evidence that the intentions were to have the silver dollar a unit of measure. Bryan expounded the free coinage of silver using the ratio, 16 oz. of silver = 1 oz. of gold. Free coinage of silver means a person could bring silver ingots to the United States Mint and have them coined. For example, $0.53 of silver would produce a silver dollar, which is what the Morgan dollar (1878-1921) contained. If the government issued dollars containing 100 cents worth of silver, they would have been very large and cumbersome. Bryan’s opponents quickly exaggerated the size of this coin and made base metal caricature or satirical pieces produced in lead type metal, zinc, Babbitt metal, tin, bronze, aluminum, iron and other combinations. Some were as large as approximately 8 inches. The level of quality of the Bryan Money was controlled by the individual ability of each craftsman (see example). Tradesmen groomed in the nineteenth century had various talents. The makers of Bryan Money were printers, blacksmiths, tool and die makers, hardware people, foundry workers, dentists and any handy person bursting with political opinion. There also were thousands produced and sold for profit by the manufacturers of novelties. Affluent jewelers in the east, such as Tiffany & Co., made several different coin silver comparative pieces (see example). They showed the outline of the Morgan dollar in comparison to the larger full content dollar. Also shown were the date, fineness of silver, and the rate of exchange of 16 to 1.

Related products