OHIO. Cincinnati. Undated (1861-1865) Robert Downing. Fuld-165AK-7b. Rarity-7. Brass. Reeded Edge. MS-66 (NGC).
19 mm. An exceptional Gem from this rare Ohio issuer, one of the acknowledged Civil War coin dealers in this series. It is a satiny and generally pristine-looking specimen with blushes of pale rose on otherwise brassy-olive surfaces. Smartly impressed and visually appealing, a tiny obverse carbon spot that is well concealed between the first two letters CI in CINCINNATI is the most useful provenance marker. All Civil War store cards from this issuer are significant rarities, each rated Rarity-7, 9 or 10 in the 2014 edition of the Fuld reference on this series. Robert Downing and his tokens are discussed in an article by Lou Alfonso that appeared in the April 2021 edition of Penny-Wise. Writing therein, the author states that, "Only two [Downing tokens] were offered for sale during the past 12 years by Heritage and only one during that time by Stack's Bowers." We reoffered the same example, Fuld-165AK-2a, ex Alan Bleviss Collection, in our December 2021 Tokens & Medals Online Auction. A coin dealer and sheet music publisher in Cincinnati, Robert Downing seems to have had a checkered career. On February 13, 1868, he was elected to corresponding membership in the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society following his sponsorship by J.N.T. Levick. Downing lived in Cincinnati at the time, as he had for years. In the December 1868 edition of the American Journal of Numismatics, J.N.T. Levick called Downing's collection of store cards one of the best in the country. 1856 Williams' Cincinnati Directory : not found. 1859-1860 Hawes' Ohio State Gazetteer and Business Directory : Not listed. 1860 Williams' Cincinnati Directory : not found. 1860-1861 Hawes' Ohio State Gazetteer and Business Directory : not found. 1861 Williams' Cincinnati Directory : "Downing Robert, periodical store, 288 W. 6th.". 1862 Williams' Cincinnati Directory : "Downing Robt., periodicals, 288 W. 6th." 1863 Williams' Cincinnati Directory : "Downing Robert, periodicals, etc., 288 W. 6th." 1864 Williams' Cincinnati Directory : not found. 1867: Downing was a bidder and buyer of tokens in W. Elliott Woodward's sale of the Joseph J. Mickley sale. 1869, January: The American Journal of Numismatics, p. 66, included a letter from Robert Downing to J.N.T. Levick: "Mr. R. Downing, of Cincinnati, approves of a new feature in our pages. He says: "'I have just glanced at the Journal, and find that you have named Mr. Day, Mr. Cleneay, and myself. I like your reminiscences. I think that I could give a few myself: as of when I took a Washington Cent of 1791 for a one cent pencil; and a gold guinea for two cents; and again, an uncirculated Pine Tree Shilling for fifty cents, for which I got $10. I am pleased to see that you intend to make photographs of some of your rarest cards. You must have some, of which I never heard.'" 1877: By this year Downing's membership in the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society had lapsed. Upon making inquiry the Society learned that Downing, a dealer in old books and old coins, "was regarded as an unscrupulous man, void of any business reputation." Apparently, he had disappeared for a time, but as of 1877 had been committed to a workhouse.
From the Lou Alfonso Collection. Earlier from Heritage's Certified American Tokens & Medals Special Monthly Auction of December 2020, lot 93052; Lou Alfonso.