(1834) Copper Token HT-362, W.P. Haskins NY

Coin Details

Description

This 1834 copper token from W.P. Haskins of Troy, New York advertises a lumber planing operation at 435 River Street. Haskins operated planing machines built under Woodworth's Patent — the pioneering machine patent granted to William Woodworth in 1828 that mechanized the process of smoothing rough-sawn boards into finished lumber. Woodworth's planing machines, which used rotating cutter heads to surface boards at high speed, revolutionized the lumber industry and were the subject of one of the most fiercely contested patent monopolies in antebellum America. The connection between Haskins and the Attleboro token manufacturer S.B. Schenck is noteworthy — Schenck's firm produced the Woodworth's Patent planing machines that Haskins used in his Troy operation. This business relationship illustrates the interconnected network of manufacturers and operators that characterized early American industrial development, where a Massachusetts machine builder's products enabled a New York planing mill's operations. River Street was Troy's principal commercial and industrial thoroughfare, running along the Hudson River waterfront where lumber arriving by river and canal could be directly processed. Haskins' planing mill transformed rough lumber into the finished boards, flooring, and trim that Troy's construction boom demanded. The 1830s building expansion — driven by canal trade prosperity and population growth — created strong demand for mechanically planed lumber that was smoother and more uniform than hand-planed boards.

Rarity Notes

Common. Standard copper variety. Rarity R-2.

Cross References

Rulau HT-362