50 Cents - Hard Times Token - Houck's Panacea Countermark on Bust Half Dollar

Reverse

Reverse of US half dollar, varies as to date

Engraver: John Reich

Comment

Dr. Jacob Houck (1791-1850) was the creator of Houck’s Panacea which was advertised as helping virtually every illness. Houck’s Panacea sold for $1.50 a bottle which was three days wages for a farmhand in Maryland at the time. Its primary ingredient was Rye Whiskey, along with sugar, gum guaiac, oil of juniper, and oil of lemon per its US patent of May 9, 1833.
Counterstamps on coins by merchants were used as a form of advertising in the 1830s. Many are found on copper large cents. Interestingly, Houck’s Panacea was counterstamped only on silver coins. Most of them were half dollars, with over 90 known examples. The counterstamped coins are of thirty-six different dates from 1795 to 1836 and one dated 1845. In 1836 foreign gold and silver coins circulated and were legal tender in the US per an Act of Congress of 1806. Thus, Houck’s counterstamp has also been found on Spanish 2 reales, French 5 francs, and Brazil 960 reis silver coins.

Matchett’s Baltimore Directory, 1835, page 19