(1837) Copper Token HT-306, Abraham Riker NY

Coin Details

Auction Record

$528 MS63BN 08-20-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

This 1837 copper token from Abraham Riker advertises his boot and shoemaking business at 131 Division Street in New York City. The obverse features a slipper, boot, and shoe — the products of Riker's trade — providing an immediately recognizable pictorial advertisement. The reverse carries the legend "ABRAHAM RIKER" with his business address, ensuring the token served as a functional directory listing as well as a cent substitute. Division Street, running through the Lower East Side, was a busy commercial thoroughfare in the 1830s lined with small shops and artisan workshops. Riker's boot and shoemaking establishment was typical of the skilled craftsmen who served New York's rapidly growing population. Before the era of factory-produced footwear, custom bootmakers like Riker measured, cut, and stitched each pair by hand, offering both ready-made stock and bespoke work to their neighborhood clientele. The pictorial design of Riker's token — showing three distinct types of footwear — is notable among Hard Times merchant tokens, where many firms relied solely on text-based advertising. The visual depiction of his products made the token's advertising message accessible even to the illiterate, and the detailed rendering of the boot, shoe, and slipper demonstrated the range of Riker's craft capabilities.

Rarity Notes

Common. Standard copper variety. Rarity R-1.

Cross References

Low 126; Rulau HT-306