2656

Loco Foco. 12 1/2?. (HT-N21). VF, perhaps better, with broad margins all around

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money Start Price:1.00 USD Estimated At:2,500.00 - 5,000.00 USD
Loco Foco. 12 1/2?. (HT-N21). VF, perhaps better, with broad margins all around
Loco Foco. <B>12 1/2?. </B>(HT-N21). Undated, but late 1830's. Martin Van Buren, a major supporter of Jackson, is portrayed as a wildcat atop a ``200,000 JACKASS POWER'' cart. In the lower central portion a dung beetle with a human face pulls a ball that says ``SHINPLASTER 12 1/2 CENTS''. ``GOOD FOR A SHAVE'' is just above. Jackson himself is lampooned in the right end panel as Liberty, holding the Constitution aloft in one hand, and the Presidential VETO in the other hand. In the left panel, ``TREASURY RAGS'', (Federal paper money) are portrayed as ``the people's pay'', while the office holder's are payed in gold ``yellow boys''. ``Accepted Ben Ton '', in script, lower left. Designed, engraved, and printed by David Claypool Johnson in 1837. The key to the entire satirical series! <B>VF,</B> perhaps better, with broad margins all around. Minor edge split, but, much nicer than the Ford example, which realized $4,500. <BR>    The term loco foco roughly translates to ``moving fire.'' At meeting of the Democratic Party in New York's Tammany Hall in 1835, a faction aligned with the Jacksonian Democrats fought with Conservative Democrats for control of the party. The Conservatives turned off all of the gas lights to halt any further discussions, but the new faction lit matches and ran around the room re-igniting the gas lights with ``loco foco'' matches, and the newspapers latched on to this and used the term derisively when referring to the newcomers. The platform of the ``Loco Foco'' Party included suppression of paper money, the ending of banker's privileges, and the protection of labor unions.