(1837) Copper Token HT-292, Merchants Exchange NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,080 AU58BN 08-20-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

This 1837 copper token depicts the original Merchants Exchange building on Wall Street, which was destroyed in the Great New York Fire of December 16-17, 1835. The obverse shows the building with its classical pillared facade, inscribed "MERCHANTS EXCHANGE, WALL ST. N. YORK, BUILT 1827, BURNT 1835." The reverse carries the standard "MILLIONS FOR DEFENCE NOT ONE CENT FOR TRIBUTE" motto within a wreath, connecting the physical destruction of the Exchange to the financial destruction wrought by Democratic economic policies. The Great Fire of 1835 was one of the most devastating urban disasters in American history. Beginning in a warehouse near Hanover and Pearl Streets, the fire consumed approximately 700 buildings over two days, destroying virtually the entire commercial district of Lower Manhattan. The Merchants Exchange, completed just eight years earlier at a cost of $1.8 million, was among the most prominent casualties. The fire also destroyed massive quantities of merchandise, business records, and personal property, inflicting economic damage estimated at $20 million — an enormous sum in 1835 dollars. HT-292 is distinguished from the closely related HT-291 and HT-293 by the arrangement of berries within and outside the reverse wreath: five berries within and three outside, with one inside berry positioned opposite the D-E space in DEFENCE. This variety is the rarest of the three building-obverse Merchants Exchange tokens.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. HT-292 is the rarest of the three Merchants Exchange building varieties. Rarity R-2 to R-3.

Cross References

Low 96; Rulau HT-292