Conservation Showcase: Civil War Token

BEFORE CONSERVATION
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AFTER CONSERVATION
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Tokens can suffer from many of the same afflictions as do regular issue coins and oftentimes even more. Until recently, tokens were seen as something less than standard issue coins by many numismatists and as a result were often not cared for nearly as well. The result is many tokens arriving at the doors of NCS covered with residues and the early stages of corrosion.

This Civil War store card token was issued in the name of Gustavas Lindenmeuller, a proprietor of a bar in New York City during the Civil War time period. Typical of many tokens of this era, this example arrived at NCS with dark residues and some small green spots that are the beginnings of corrosion most particularly in the recesses of the design and around legends. Careful conservation work was able to remove the dark residues as well as the green while having the added benefit of not becoming worse over time. This token was able to grade numerically with NGC following the conservation work.