101254 | UNITED STATES. Libertas Americana/Harbach's white metal Token.

101254  |  UNITED STATES. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Libertas Americana/Harbach's white metal Token. Issued 1876. The centennial celebration (22mm, 4.82 g, 1h).

 

LIBERTAS AMERICANA / 4 JUIL 1776, head of liberty left, with free flowing hair and Phrygian cap on pole / HARBACH'S / ORIGINAL / WALNUT / CANDY / 36 N 8 STREET / PHILADA in six lines. Edge: Plain.

 

Miller PA-187 var.; Rulau Pa-Ph-930B. About Uncirculated. Some light handling on the high points, with a good deal of brilliance remaining in the protected areas. Restitution issue of the popular Libertas Americana type.

 

Designed in part by Benjamin Franklin, the popular "Libertas Americana" motif was thought of as emblematic of the fledgling, newly-established nation—wild and untamed, hopeful and, most importantly, free. Here, the allegorical Liberty exhibits free-flowing, unkempt hair, while a Phrygian cap—an ancient symbol throughout Thrace and Anatolia that later came to represent liberty—tops a pole over her shoulder. During the country's centennial celebrations in 1876, this national iconography was restituted on many tokens of medals, such as this storecard for Harbach's in Philadelphia—famous for making replicas of the Liberty Bell in their well-known walnut candy during the centennial.

 

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