Pinback campaign token, with obverse featuring a ferrotype portrait of Abraham Lincoln, with "A. Lincoln" printed above; set in a metallic frame reading: "For President / 1864". Pin attached on verso. Overall diameter, 1 1/4 in. (31 mm); frame with occasional spots and nicks; ferrotype a bit dark and soft in focus; some wear to edges.

The image of Lincoln in this piece is a reversed image of a photograph taken by Thomas LeMere at Matthew Brady’s Washington, D.C. studio, on 9 February 1864. This photograph was later used as the basis of the Lincoln engraving seen on the current $5 bill, which entered circulation in 2008. It is believed that this item was mass-produced by the Republican Party during the 1864 presidential campaign, which would ultimately see the Lincoln-Johnson ticket defeat the McClellan-Pendleton one, in 212-21 electoral votes. DeWitt AL-1864-95. 

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California