The Numismatic Bibliomania Society

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V24 2021 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 24, Number 32, August 8, 2021, Article 19

VOCABULARY TERM: FEUCHTWANGER COMPOSITION

Here's another entry from Dick Johnson's Encyclopedia of Coin and Medal Terminology. I added images of Feuchtwanger and one of his tokens. -Editor

Lewis Feuchtwanger Feuchtwanger Composition. A three-component alloy employed for several private issue tokens – and proposed for United States coinage by its developer – but never accepted. In 1837 a New York City dentist, Dr Lewis Feuchtwanger, created the composition of 53 copper, 29 zinc and 18 nickel. Its silver gray color resembles copper-nickel. He had several varieties of three-cent tokens in this composition struck by Scovill of Waterbury. His proposal to the U.S. Treasury Department was wisely rejected for striking minor coins however. (At the time it would have been a nightmare of scrap technology in recovering the medals from worn coins.)

Unsuccessful at the U.S. Treasury, he turned to private industry, but his proposed alloy was not immediately put to commercial use. In effect, Feuchtwanger was just slightly ahead of his time. What he proposed was one of many formulations of german-silver, or what we called today nickel-silver. It was a hard wearing formula, ideal for badges and such.

1837 Feuchtwanger Cent obverse 1837 Feuchtwanger Cent reverse

References:
O12 {1988} Breen, p 215; 701 (German-silver entry).

To read the complete entry on the Newman Numismatic Portal, see:
Feuchtwanger Composition (https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/dictionarydetail/515895)

Heritage E-Sylum ad 2021-08-08


Wayne Homren, Editor

Google
 
NBS (coinbooks.org) Web

The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization promoting numismatic literature. See our web site at coinbooks.org.

To submit items for publication in The E-Sylum, write to the Editor at this address: whomren@gmail.com

To subscribe go to: https://my.binhost.com/lists/listinfo/esylum

PREV ARTICLE       NEXT ARTICLE       FULL ISSUE       PREV FULL ISSUE      

V24 2021 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

Copyright © 1998 - 2021 The Numismatic Bibliomania Society (NBS)
All Rights Reserved.

NBS Home Page
Contact the NBS webmaster
coin