An online auction by Early American History Auctions closing at noon Eastern Time Aug. 29 featured 146-lots of numismatic and historical material dating as far back as the American Revolutionary War.
Featured categories included Colonial currency, encased postage stamps, Civil War slave badges, and historic autographs.
Civil War dog tag
One of a handful of Civil War soldier identification tags, commonly called dog tags, hand-engraved by Union soldiers was a circa 1862 tag belonging to Private Lawson E. Barber of Company H, 14th Vermont Volunteer Infantry Regiment.
The obverse of the holed identification tag featured a portrait left of Major General Geo. B. McClellan.
The reverse was inscribed with Pvt. Barber’s identification details.
According to the lot description, “Lawson Barber was born in Ira, Vermont, and enlisted in the United States Army on Sept. 10, 1862, at age 24, joining the 14th Vermont Volunteer Infantry. The unit’s only combat was at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.
In the months following the Battle of Gettysburg, the 14th Vermont mustered out of service. Later, Barber reenlisted in the 1st Vermont Heavy Artillery Regiment on December 19, 1863. He mustered out of active service on July 25, 1865.
The 14th Vermont Infantry Regiment was a nine-month infantry regiment in the Union Army active from Oct. 21, 1862 to July 30, 1863. The regiment was assigned to the Defenses of Washington for most of its span, only joining the Army of the Potomac on June 25, 1863.
With significant original gilt remaining, the tag, described as “Choice About New,” had an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.
Washington, Eccleston
A 76-millimeter bronze 1805 George Washington Memorial medal, cataloged as Musante GW-88 in Medallic Washington by Neil Musante, executed by Daniel Eccleston of Lancaster, England using dies by Thomas Webb, was described as Extremely Fine.
According to the lot description, the medal “was commissioned by Daniel Belteshazzar Plantagenet Eccleston, an eccentric Lancaster, England, merchant and Quaker who claimed to have visited Washington at Mount Vernon. This medal was struck from dies cut by engraver Thomas Webb shortly after Washington’s death and distributed by Eccleston himself to prominent Americans, including Thomas Jefferson, Bushrod Washington, and Chief Justice John Marshall.
The medal carried an estimate of $600 to $800.
Revolutionary button
A number of ornate buttons with historical links were also offered in the sale.
One example was a Revolutionary War era political button with an estimated value of $2,500 to $3,500.
Attributed as Troiani AUS.b in Don Troiani’s reference book Insignia of Independence, the circa 1775 Revolutionary War era historic American political button was struck in copper and gilded, of the “Rattlesnake and Stars” design, it measured 24 millimeters in diameter and was described as being well detailed in Very Fine condition.
The button displayed an American rattlesnake with its tail in mouth, encircling a stippled field of 13 stars (representing the 13 American colonies). The snake design provided a raised outer border.