(1837) Copper Token HT-65, May 10th

Coin Details

Auction Record

$312 MS63BN 08-21-2019 Heritage Auctions

Description

This 1837 copper token commemorates one of the most traumatic dates in American financial history: May 10, 1837, when New York City banks suspended specie payments. The reverse inscription "SPECIE PAYMENTS SUSPENDED / MAY / TENTH / 1837" records this date as a day of infamy, while the Liberty head obverse maintains the familiar cent-like design that facilitated commercial circulation. The suspension of specie payments meant that banks refused to honor their obligation to exchange paper banknotes for gold or silver coin on demand. When New York banks — the nation's financial center — suspended, banks across the country followed within days and weeks. Over 600 banks failed entirely, and those that survived operated in a state of suspended convertibility that fundamentally undermined public confidence in the paper money system. The immediate consequences of the suspension were devastating. Prices collapsed, businesses closed, workers lost their jobs, and the value of banknotes became undocumented and variable. The practical effect for ordinary citizens was a sudden scarcity of reliable circulating money — paper notes of questionable value were abundant, but hard coins that could be trusted as stores of value virtually disappeared from circulation as people hoarded them. This coin shortage was precisely the condition that made Hard Times Tokens necessary and commercially viable.

Rarity Notes

Common. The May Tenth design is a frequently collected political Hard Times Token with good availability.

Cross References

Low 45; Rulau HT-65