(1835) Copper Token HT-370, N. Starbuck & Son NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$3,000 VF20 11-18-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

This 1835 copper N. Starbuck & Son token completes the standard variety sequence for the Troy, New York machine shop. The four-variety production program (HT-366 through HT-370, with HT-367 being a composition variant) places Starbuck among the moderately active Troy token issuers. Each die variety could produce several thousand tokens, providing broad advertising coverage for the firm's turning, boring, and screw-manufacturing services. Nathaniel Starbuck built his machine shop during a period of rapid industrial expansion in Troy. The city's position at the head of navigation on the Hudson River and the eastern terminus of the Erie Canal made it a natural center for manufacturing, and machine shops that could produce custom parts and specialized equipment were in constant demand. The Starbuck firm's focus on mill screws and precision boring placed them in a specialized niche that few competitors could match. The complete N. Starbuck & Son set is pursued by collectors who specialize in Troy merchant tokens. The Troy group, which includes Bucklin, Carpenter & Mosher, Starbuck, Peck, Boutwell, and others, represents one of the more cohesive geographic subsets in the Hard Times Token series — a collection of issues from a single city that document its industrial and commercial character during the manufacturing boom of the mid-1830s.

Rarity Notes

Common. Standard copper variety. Rarity R-1 to R-2.

Cross References

Rulau HT-370