(1837) Token HT-172, German-Silver Maverick Coach MA

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,920 AU58 11-18-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

This German silver Maverick Coach token from 1837 is a transportation fare piece for the stagecoach service operating from Maverick Square in East Boston. Like the related Roxbury Coaches token (HT-169), this small-format piece (18.7mm) served as a fare token rather than a merchant advertisement. The German silver composition provided durability for a token that would be handled repeatedly in daily fare collection. Maverick Square, named for Samuel Maverick, was the commercial center of East Boston — a community that developed rapidly in the 1830s as a residential area for workers employed in the nearby shipyards and waterfront industries. Daily stagecoach service connected East Boston to the ferry landings that provided access to downtown Boston across the harbor. Fare tokens streamlined passenger boarding and reduced the handling of loose coins by coach drivers. The pairing of Maverick Coach and Roxbury Coaches tokens in the Hard Times catalog documents Boston's pre-railroad suburban transportation network. Both services operated private stagecoach lines connecting outlying communities to the central city, a business model that would be superseded by horse-drawn streetcars in the 1850s and electric trolleys in the 1890s.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. German silver transportation token. Rarity R-3.

Cross References

Rulau HT-172