CAMERON HOUSE / 5 with an additional 5 on the reverse of an 1860 Indian cent. Brunk C-130, Rulau MV-42E. Host coin VF.，A potentially important countermark, known to Brunk only on an 1859 cent (however we sold a much more worn example also dated 1860 in our 2011 Philadelphia Americana sale). The countermarks on this piece are very similar to the famous J.B. SCHILLER / X token issued during the siege of New Orleans, a counterstamp now worth thousands of dollars. That mark, like this one, appears on copper-nickel cents and, like this one, features simply a name and a denomination -- in this case, 5. Cent-sized tokens that passed for one cent were in fairly ready supply during the Civil War, and despite the coin shortage, it is difficult to believe that normal circumstances would allow for a cent piece to be passed as five cents in value. The New Orleans Schiller token was issued during the most trying of times in a place with an acute money shortage. The only places with similar shortages in this era were other cities in the Confederacy or, possibly but less likely, the West. Schillers token was identifiable because he also issued scrip noting his location, and valued at 25 and 50 cents. Unfortunately, there were Cameron Houses in many cities, making positive geographical identification challenging. We believe this rare countermark to be issued under similar circumstances as the rare J.B. Schiller pieces, and these appear to be two-of-a-kind among local emergency revaluation countermarks from the Civil War.，Acquired by our consignor in July of 2008.，
