CWTS Hall Of Fame

    The Civil War Token Society (CWTS) Hall of Fame was proposed by Bryon Kanzinger and established in 2002 by the Executive Board of the Society. It was created to honor past and current pioneers, leaders, and heroes in the field of Civil War tokens. Furthermore, it was intended to enlighten the Society’s members, and to refresh and stimulate a desire to become active within The Civil War Token Society and its elected Board. A nomination committee of Board members submits up to six candidates for the Hall of Fame to the entire Executive Board. Each Executive Board member may vote for three candidates, and a majority vote is required to elect a new inductee to the Hall of Fame. Non-inducted individuals remain on the ballot as nominees for a maximum of five years.

    Each inductee has been recognized by CWTS Hall of Fame medals struck by The Patrick Mint, of which 100 are in silver, 600 are in copper/zinc, 200 are in goldine/zinc, and 100 are in nickel/zinc. For several inductees, both error and corrected medals were produced.


    References: CWTJ 36(1):21-22; 36(4):10-15; 37(1):16, 18-19; 37(3):5-10, 13; 37(4):2; 47(2):6-7.



CWTS Hall of Fame Inductees

2002	Dr. George Fuld, Baltimore, MD
2002	Dr. George Hetrich, Birdsboro, PA
2002	Julius Guttag, New York City, NY
2002	John Stanton, Cincinnati, OH
2002	J. N. T. Levick, New York City, NY
2002	Jack Detwiler, Brea, CA
2002	Melvin Fuld, Baltimore, MD
2002	Pliny Chase, Haverford, PA
2003	Dale Cade, Ranch Palos Verdes, CA
2003	Joseph Barnet, Brooklyn, NY
2003	William K. Lanphear, Cincinnati, OH
2004	Bryon Kanzinger, Jeffersonville, PA
2004	David Schenkman, Bryantown, MD
2004	Stephen L. Tanenbaum, Brooklyn, NY
2004	Dr. Larkin Wilson, El Dorado, AR
2005	Cindy Grellman-Wibker, Shreveport, LA
2005	Virgil Brand, Chicago, IL

Biographical Sketches for Hall of Fame Inductees



Joseph Barnet

    Joseph Barnet was a major collector and researcher of Civil War tokens during the first half of the 20th century. He is noted for bridging the years from Hetrich and Guttag to the Fulds. Barnet did extensive research into attempting to locate maverick Civil War merchants. He produced a supplement to Hetrich and Guttag’s work in 1943-44, updating that book and adding information previously unpublished. Barnet amassed a wonderfully diverse and high-grade collection of Civil War tokens, which eventually found its way to George and Melvin Fuld in 1948.


Virgil Brand

    A Chicago beer baron by trade, Virgil Brand is considered the greatest collector of Civil War tokens of all time, amassing his rare and impressive hoards from the 1880s to the 1920s. Although Virgil most likely purchased individual tokens, he is noted for buying huge dealer inventories and hoards. It has been estimated that at the height of his collecting activities he had acquired several hundred thousand tokens. Two major sales (Kreisberg, 1966 and Harmer Rooke, 1969) offered thousands of Brand’s tokens. Even into the 1970s tens of thousands of his tokens were still intact in groups. Virgil was considered to have one of the finest copper-nickel and silver collections of tokens ever assembled. The definitive work by Q. David Bowers, Virgil Brand: The Man and His Era, extensively documents his life and times.


Dale Cade

    Dale Cade was long considered the glue that held the Civil War Token Society together. He received several Service and Literary awards from the Society. A member since the 1960s, Dale maintained an active role throughout the decades. Serving long terms as Secretary and Auction Manager, he always managed to keep the Society progressive and focused. He was a prolific author in the Civil War Token Journal and wrote the “This ’N That” column for many years. Dale donated many tokens to worthy causes to spark interest in the field. He also was a very active photographer of Civil War tokens, and headed the committee that published the Fifth Edition of Patriotic Civil War Tokens. See the CWTJ, 25(3):10-11 and 41(4):2-7, for more about Dale.


Pliny Chase

    Pliny Earle Chase was the first person to catalogue Civil War tokens. His research covered both patriotics and store cards. The Civil War contemporary catalogue he compiled lists 303 tokens “illustrating the trade currency illicitly circulating during the war.” It was presented at a meeting of the American Philosophical Society in September 1863, and subsequently published in 1865 in the Proceedings of the Society. Because of the date of presentation, we can ascertain that all of these tokens were in circulation prior to the end of the War. Chase had the foresight to collect and present these and other tokens to the American Philosophical Society for its cabinet. A comprehensive study by Fred L. Reed III of the catalog and Chase’s life appears in the JCWTS, 9(2):40-48.


Jack Detwiler

    Jack Detwiler was a prolific CWT author and researcher. An acknowledged expert in the specialized field of patriotic CWTs, he developed the patriotic Die-A-Grams. For years Jack had a continuing column in the JCWTS entitled “Patriotic Patter” in which he explored various aspects of patriotic dies and their relevance to the Civil War. He also was the Editor-in-Chief of the Fourth Edition of Patriotic Civil War Tokens and provided much of the information contained in the book. Jack served as the Society’s President and Vice President for a term each, and also for several terms on the CWTS Board of Governors. He received several Literary and Service Awards from the Society. For biographical sketches of his life, see the CWTJ, 22(3):25 and 26(2):26.


Dr. George Fuld

    Dr. George Fuld, along with his father Melvin, brought the collecting of Civil War tokens into the modern age, publishing Patriotic Civil War Tokens in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine in 1958-59 and U. S. Civil War Store Cards in 1962. He introduced his father to Civil War tokens in 1947, and the next year they acquired Joseph Barnet’s 4600 piece collection of Civil War tokens. George sold his entire U. S. coin collection for $800, while his father advanced the other $700 to buy the Barnet collection. Other collections soon followed, including the Guttag collection of 5200 pieces. George is a prolific author, having penned hundreds of articles and done more research and scientific analysis in the field of Civil War tokens than any other individual. He was a founding member of the CWTS Board of Governors. In 2002 he received ANA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding contributions to the field of numismatics.


Melvin Fuld

    Melvin Fuld, along with his son George, brought the collecting of Civil War tokens into the modern age, publishing Patriotic Civil War Tokens in the Numismatic Scrapbook Magazine in 1958-59 and U. S. Civil War Store Cards in 1962. Melvin and George introduced the Fuld numbering system, which is the foundation for classifying Civil War tokens. Melvin was a founding member of the Civil War Token Society and the first president of the Society in 1967. He also served as President of The Maryland Numismatic Society. Melvin received the American Numismatic Association’s Heath Literary Award several times and the ANA’s Medal of Merit in 1964. In 1965 he served on the U. S. Assay Commission. More extensive biographical sketches of his life appear in the JCWTS, 20(4):23-24 and 21(4):4-5.


Cindy Grellman-Wibker

    Cindy Grellman-Wibker has been an indispensable part of the CWTS for many years. She served as the Society’s President and as its Secretary for almost ten years, and also was a member of the Board of Governors for two terms. Cindy continues to serve the Society as its publicist and liaison representative with the American Numismatic Association. She is an expert in the field of patriotic tokens and has done extensive work on dies, especially on the very complex turban head series, and contributed to the fourth edition of Patriotic Civil War Tokens. She has received three awards from the Society for her literary contributions, and another three for service contributions. Cindy also has served as President and a Board Member of the Token and Medal Society, and has received several awards, including a Medal of Merit, two Presidential Awards, and an Exemplary Service Award, from the ANA.


Julius Guttag

    Julius Guttag is often mentioned along with his inseparable literary partner Dr. George Hetrick. In a time when the numismatic community generally ignored Civil War tokens, Hetrich and Guttag published the first truly comprehensive reference book on Civil War tokens, Civil War Tokens and Tradesmen’s Store Cards, in 1924. They made major breakthroughs in the classification of CWTs by assigning a specific number to each combination of obverse and reverse dies in each of the various metals. Their work was the standard reference for Civil War tokens for nearly 40 years until it was supplanted by the Fuld system in the 1960s. Julius, a coin dealer/broker/collector, amassed a fantastic collection of Civil War tokens that eventually found its way to the Fulds’ collection.


Dr. George Hetrich

    Dr. George Hetrich is often mentioned along with his inseparable literary partner Julius Guttag. They did not meet officially until Guttag had already begun working on his new Civil War token book. Along with collecting rivals Brand and Guttag, Hetrich was considered as a top early 20th century collector and researcher. In a time when the numismatic community generally ignored Civil War tokens, Hetrich and Guttag published the first truly comprehensive reference book on Civil War tokens, Civil War Tokens and Tradesmen’s Store Cards, in 1924. They made major breakthroughs in the classification of CWTs by assigning a specific number to each combination of obverse and reverse dies in each of the various metals. Their work was the standard reference for Civil War tokens for nearly 40 years until it was supplanted by the Fuld system in the 1960s.


Bryon Kanzinger

    Bryon Kanzinger served as a member of the CWTS Board of Governors and as Vice President of the Society. He conceived and developed the CWTS Hall of Fame award program. Bryon authored a book on the relative difficulty of obtaining CWTs from issuing towns and merchants and rated their respective difficulties on a common scale. This book, The Civil War Token Collectors Guide, was the first to provide a complete valuation guide for CWTs and has become a standard reference. He also helped develop and consulted for the ANACS Civil War Token department. Bryon, who died in 2003 while just in his early thirties, received a Service award from the Society for his contributions.


William K. Lanphear

    William K. Lanphear is considered to have been the second largest producer of Civil War token varieties. He struck store card tokens for hundreds of merchants in twelve different states, ranging as far away as Minnesota and Kansas in the West to New York in the East. In his shop in Cincinnati, Lanphear employed talented engravers such as Lutz and Senour, and the die work for his tokens is considered imaginative and varied. Lanphear’s own store cards used all of his dies, creating over 110 different token varieties in various metals. These are classified under the Fuld listing OH 165CY. An advertising genius, he co-advertised on several occasions with other merchants, muling his own merchant dies with theirs. After the war, Lanphear moved to Baltimore, where he worked as a stencil cutter, and eventually to Minneapolis where he continued in the same business.


J. N. T. Levick

    J. N. T. Levick was one of the most prominent pioneering collectors of Civil War tokens. Often purchasing his tokens directly from the diesinkers, he amassed one of the finest collections of off-metal tokens. Levick sold off many of his duplicates from the 1860s through the early 1880s, but his career pinnacle sale was in 1884. This auction is described in the JCWTS, 10(1):14-16. It is estimated that over 7000 tokens were auctioned. By today’s standards, prices were ridiculously low, with many pieces not bringing even a cent each. Only the silver examples were listed in individual lots. It is believed that many of these tokens ended up in the hands of Edward Groh, who eventually donated his collection to the American Numismatic Society in New York City.


David Schenkman

    David Schenkman is one of the greatest researchers and collectors of Civil War sutler tokens. As an author, he has contributed seminal works including Civil War Sutler Tokens and Cardboard Scrip, Merchant Tokens of Hard Rubber and Similar Compositions, and Tokens & Medals Commemorating the Battle Between the Monitor and Merrimac. He also has been an exonumia columnist for Coin World, Numismatic News, and The Numismatist, and was the long-time editor of the TAMS Journal and a former president of TAMS. David served as editor of the CWTS Copperhead Courier from 1975 to 1980, and received a service award in 1980. He was President and Vice President of the Society, and a member of the Board of Governors for three terms. He has been an instructor for the ANA’s Summer Seminar, teaching courses in U.S. tokens and Civil War era numismatics. David received the ANA’s Heath Literary Award in 1994, Glenn Smedley Memorial Award in 2003, and Medal of Merit in 2007. In 2012 he received the ANA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.


John Stanton

    John Stanton, along with his two employees James Murdock, Jr., and William Spencer, are considered to have been the largest producers of Civil War tokens. From their shop in Cincinnati, millions of tokens were produced for approximately 440 merchants in a dozen states. It is estimated that Stanton’s firm produced more than 2000 different tokens during the war, many of which were collector strikes meant to cater to people like J. N. T. Levick. Stanton’s advertised general fees for business strikes were $10 for the first 1000 tokens and $8 for each additional 1000. Individual off-metal planchets were struck at special rates. Stanton donated several complete 2000+ token sets to wartime Sanitary Fairs to help raise funds for the soldiers. He made many of his own store cards, which have been classified by the Fulds under the listing OH 165FX.


Stephen L. Tanenbaum

    Steve Tanenbaum was considered by many to have been the most knowledgeable person in the field of Civil War tokens during the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. He was relied upon for many decades as a consultant, editor, and contributor to numerous CWT works. After beginning his CWT collecting journey in 1972, he became a full-time dealer for tokens in 1981. Steve handled, purchased, and built some of the greatest modern-day collections, although he always considered himself a collector first. He discovered hundreds of new varieties, previously unknown die states, and odd mint errors. Steve was elected to nine terms on the CWTS Board of Governors, and also filled two partial terms by appointment. He served as Vice President of the Society from 2004 through 2010. Tragically, his life was cut short when he was struck by an automobile in February 2011.


Dr. Larkin Wilson

    Dr. Larkin Wilson was best known for serving as the Verification Officer for the Society from 1985 to 2001. He regularly published his verification of new varieties in the Society’s Journal, and was a true expert in distinguishing real Civil War tokens from fakes. In conjunction with Jack Detwiler, Dr. Wilson created a database for identifying the metallic content of CWTs and was able to classify known and previously unknown materials. His research articles were recognized by three literary awards from the Society, and he received another three awards for his contributions in service.






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