1835 Military Naval Coin, Please Help

[accteam]

Hello,

I really need help with this one. I found this coin about the size of a quarter, maybe a bit bigger. Its very hard to make out what it fully says on both sides. So keep in mind that I might have wrote what I thought to be the right letter/word but could be wrong.

' * ' Stands for: not sure what the letter is, also just because I put one ' * ' does not mean its for only 1 letter. Meaning there might be a group of letters I cant read and I'm not sure how many letters are there. Example:
Correct Word ' Sporting ' but if cannot read it, I might put ' **rting '

Starting with the front of the coin, at the top, going around the rim it reads ' Amer*** ' then
next to it reads: ' ***suitute ' (The ' U ' after the ' S ' might be a ' V ' Because I noticed what looks like a line under it)

Still looking at the front of the coin...at the bottom it reads: ' NEW YORK '

Looking at the back of the coin, this is where it becomes hard to make sense. Starting from the top:
'***** ' A GOLD ' *** '
AWARDED TO
RAW ROBINSON
FOR THE BEST
MILITARY NAVAL
SPORTING
PLAINFLAT ( I'm not sure but on the coin it looks like there might be 1 letter in front of the ' P ' )
BUTTONS
1835 ( The second # is kind of worn, looks like it could be a 3 but I cant see this coin coming from 1335 )

Sorry if this all reads a little confusing. If there are any questions, please let me know. I tried searching online, but had no luck. My son and I were metal detecting and he was the one who found this piece and he is very interested in find out. The other things we found in the area of the coin, that might help you to figure it out, are:

About 23 or so musket balls, 8 military buttons, 1830 5 cent piece and 1803 European piece. Also, these items were only found in a small square area about the size of half a football field. I tried searching outside of this area, in a grid pattern and found nothing....very strange!

Again, sorry for writing so much. I want to thank you ahead of time for helping us out. Looking forward to hearing back.


Jon

 

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[bk]

It looks like a Hard Times token.
Very nice find!

 

[PBK]

Glad to have you with us, Accteam!

Check the date on the token again: it should be 1836. The R. & W. [Richard and Willard] Robinson Company was organizzed in that year; earlier, it was known as Robinsons, Jones & Co. Similar tokens with that name on them were struck in 1833.

The obverse (front) design is taken from the American Institute medal which the firm received for its metal products in 1833. The illegible character in front of "Plain Flat" is an "&" symbol, or ampersand.

The tokens were struck in copper and also in silvered copper, and there are three varieties of lettering. The two common ones do not have a hyphen between "New" and "York," and are worth about $5-10 apiece in average condition. The one with the hyphen between is much scarcer, and worth $50 or more, depending on condition.

As BK has pointed out, it's what is commonly referred to as a Hard Times token. Here's a link to more information:

http://www.coin-newbies.com/articles/hard_times_tokens.html

 

[jasonbo]

Hard Times Token, HT #154, Low #103

Description
Obverse: Seated lady with sheild and eagle and with the words "American Institute, New York". Reverse: "Copy of a Gold Medal, Awarded to R & W Robinson, for the Best Military, Naval, Sporting, & Plain Flat Buttons, 1836".

General Information
Rarity R-1 very common, composition copper, size 28.5 mm.

sorry so slow nice find though

 

[skarmajunga]

I just found one of these today, took some digging on the net to find out what it was