Liberia - AMERICAN COLONIZATION SOCIETY, ACS; CH-1

April 2024

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CH-1 & CH-5 are the two 'Small Ship' varieties. At least one of every variety documented by Colver & Harley can be seen in the Museum (+ two undocumented in KM & CH). One, tenatively known as #7, is distiguishable by a visible sun disc; it is very rare (only 4 documented so far) but can be seen here and at the American Numismatic Societies' Web site. (Contact Moneta if you have one for sale, or wish to picture it here!!)
The wide-spaced 'A.D.' is what distiguishes CH-1 from CH-5 (wider).
Frankly, I am of the opinion that these should be listed as an American token (they are in the Red Book). It is not at all clear that these were ever intended for use in Liberia. The history of the token is still shrouded in mystery. While it is widely believed to have been struck as a fund raising piece by John Gibbs of Belleville, NJ, there are those who believe these are from the US mint (circumstantial evidence abounds). Please keep watch for an important monograph (by R.S.) on these in our Library.

VIEW & DOWNLOAD major research on the LIBERIA/USA series:
Here are links to articles about the ACS tokens and the Belleville mint, (including a copy of Colver & Harley):
LIBERIAN CENT of 1833 - Colver & Harley: [ link ]
American Colonization Society - Rachootin: [ link ]
The Belleville N.J. Mint of Gibbs - Jacob: [ link ]
Foreign Coins Struck at the USA Mint (Liberia) - Ziebart: [ link ]
SOHO Mint of Birmingham and USA Coins - Doty: [ link ]
Abolitionist Tokens & William Garrison - Rachootin: [ link ]
Randy Snyder article in 'PennyWise' Sep. 2006: [ link ]
Here is a video presented by Ron Guth and linked from the Newman Numismatic Portal:
[ link ]