THE ZABRISKIE LEGACY
Donald L. Ackerman

Few collectors of political Americana know the name Andrew C. Zabriskie. But numismatists (coin collectors) are more thanfamiliar with that moniker -- and, more importantly, what it represents in the way of provenance. Zabriskie was one of the most prominent collectors of American coinage in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In fact, Zabriskie served as President of the American Numismatic Society at the turn-of-the-century. The sale of his collection by Henry Chapman in 1909 is considered, even today, a seminal event.

Ancient history... why then, should today's Lincoln collector be concerned with him? For one thing, he amassed what will always be considered the single finest assemblage of Lincoln tokens, medals, and political badges. Second, in 1873, at the age of nineteen, he published - at his own expense - the very first catalog devoted exclusively to Lincoln medals: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Political and Memorial Medals Struck in Honor of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States. A total of 187 medals (including metal varieties) were each assigned a number (a number). The sequence was based on descending order of size, with measurements in the prevalent at the time. Only seventy-five copies were printed, each selling for $1.50. (A flawed copy of this scarce work recently sold in the Harry Bass sale for $300).

Until earlier this year, no one outside the immediate family knew that Captain Zabriskie's collection (he was quite proud of his military rank) of Lincolniana still existed. A good deal sold in the Chapman sale. Even more was gifted to the American Numismatic Society in Manhattan where it remains in their permanent collection. But a sat sight-unseen in a box in a safe from the time of Zabriskie's death in 1916 until rediscovered by family members in 1951. For reasons unknown, this blockbuster discovery was relegated to a closet shelf for an additional forty-eight years. Like the Paul Masson wine ad of years ago () - - family members arranged a house call with Sotheby's coin department and, with seeming nonchalance, consigned the collection for a sale.

The idea of a numismatist collecting political items may now seem strange, but this was not always the case. Virgil Brand, a millionaire Chicago brewer, actively collected from the late 1870's through the first two decades of the next century. Not without cause, he became known as The collection remained intact until fairly recently and, when cataloged, was found to contain a total of 365,000 items. The last installments of his collection, auctioned by Bowers & Merena in 1990, included a modest assortment of election medals; the majority represented the 1860 and '64 campaigns of Abraham Lincoln. The J. Doyle DeWitt, had deep roots in the numismatic community and, prior to publishing his own work on politicals, wrote several articles for leading numismatic journals. And it used to be the case that coin shows were considered productive sources for political items. With the demise of many of the old-time dealers, this is now seldom the case. Still, many items in the political series (hard times tokens, Civil War tokens, inaugural medals) have found a devoted following among segments of the coin collecting population.

The symbiotic cord between coin collecting and political collecting has its antecedents in the mid-nineteenth century. Prior to the introduction of the photographic campaign badge in 1860, practically all campaign were, in fact, tokens and medals. Just as silent movies reached their zenith as an art form concurrent with the introduction of so did campaign medals reach a just as the more popular ferrotype made its first appearance. From an artistic perspective, the medals produced from 1856 to 1868 are unsurpassed. But medals continued to be popular for quite a number of years - large quantities were produced through the election of 1892 with examples of high artistic merit most often produced by veteran engravers from the '60's. The introduction of the celluloid pinback button (our modern ) in 1896 was too much to bear, and put the final nail in the election-medal coffin.

The greatest interest in the political series by coin collectors took place around the time of the Civil War. The first catalog of election medals was published in 1858: Charles I. Bushnell's An Arrangement of Tradesmen's Cards, Political Tokens, Also Election Medals, & c. Current in the United States of America for the Last Sixty Years. This was followed in 1862 by Alfred H. Satterlee's An Arrangement of Medals and Tokens, Struck in Honor of the Presidents of the United States, And of the Presidential Candidates From the Administration of John Adams to That of Abraham Lincoln. This compendium contained twenty-six Lincoln medals. The Bushnell collection was sold by Henry Chapman in 1882. The Satterlee collection was sold by W. Elliot Woodward in 1862.

Although most coin collectors profess an interest in history, most are content to discover history through coins alone - politicals are hardly worth the study. (Perhaps politicians are not deemed worthy of their attention.) But this was certainly not the case with Zabriskie. In his 1897 lecture entitled Zabriskie explained his philosophy:

The seeds of the Captain's fascination with the contemporary political scene were defined by specific memories:

Years later, Zabriskie would speculate on the popularity of collecting political medals:

Just why Zabriskie was attracted to collecting Lincoln is uncertain. The tumultuous events of the Civil War, to which he was an impressionable witness, were, no doubt, fertile ground. Current events often hold the greatest attraction for a beginning collector. Affordability and availability may have been other concerns. Accordingly, he came out with his in 1873, devoted exclusively to Lincoln. In 1897, he declared, (It would finally come about in 1959 with the publication of J. Doyle DeWitt's A Century of Campaign Buttons). In 1873, however, Lincoln was his exclusive focus.

The preface to his inaugural work was simple and direct:

For those unfamiliar with the term, refers to the practice of combining obverse and reverse dies that did not originate together, thus creating a new variety of medal. In spite of his aversion to mulings, several are listed in Zabriskie's catalog. In addition, medals struck strictly for the purpose of selling to collectors are likewise listed - and are not differentiated as such. It is quite possible that Zabriskie did not find these equally objectionable to mules that often contained totally illogical and incongruent dies.

One result of the catalog's publication was a controversy between the author and a Cambridge, Massachusetts collector named Henry W. Holland. They traded barbs in a series of that appeared in the American Journal of Numismatics in 1874 and 1875. Holland's stated goal was the compilation of a complete list of Lincoln medals - as such, it was necessary to deliver some criticism of Zabriskie:

Zabriskie responded: But Holland got the last word:

Zabriskie's in soap no longer exists and was not included in the Sotheby's auction. Don't expect any snuff boxes or stuffed birds, either. Holland's passing and the sale of his collection in 1878 by W. Elliot Woodward put an end to the controversy. (There are certain advantages to dying after your adversaries.) Zabriskie never put out a revised catalog. The quest for a definitive, complete listing would finally be realized with the publication of Robert P. King's which appeared serially in The Numismatist issues of February 1924, April 1927, and August 1933. In the preface to his work, King reminisced about Zabriskie:

Zabriskie spent his remaining years writing papers and delivering lectures on diverse topics, often returning to his first love - election medals and Lincoln. Comments made in his paper delivered before the American Numismatic Society on December 6, 1900, are worthy of our attention:

And we, the collectors of today, have people like Andrew Zabriskie to thank for his research, dedication, and diligence in preserving these from the sands of time. His legacy is inspiring.

For more information on The Rail Splitter, see:
https://www.railsplitter.com/

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
MORE ON THE ZABRISKIE COLLECTION(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n29a09.html)