(1837) Token HT-293, Merchants Exchange

Coin Details

Auction Record

$228 MS64BN 08-21-2019 Heritage Auctions

Description

This 1837 copper Merchants Exchange token shares the building obverse with HT-291 and HT-292 but is distinguished by the absence of a dash under "CENT" on the reverse and by the specific arrangement of berries in the wreath (five inside, three outside). The "MERCHANTS EXCHANGE, WALL ST. N. YORK, BUILT 1827, BURNT 1835" inscription records the building's brief eight-year existence. The destruction of the Merchants Exchange held deep symbolic significance for New Yorkers. The building had served as the city's primary center of commerce, housing the trading floor where merchants, brokers, and auctioneers conducted business. Its grand neoclassical architecture — featuring massive Ionic columns and a domed rotunda — represented the ambitions and achievements of New York's mercantile class. Its destruction by fire seemed to foreshadow the financial conflagration that would engulf the city's economy less than two years later during the Panic of 1837. A new Merchants Exchange was constructed on the same Wall Street site between 1836 and 1842, designed by Isaiah Rogers in the Greek Revival style. This replacement building still stands today as a designated New York City landmark, though it has served various purposes including the U.S. Custom House and the headquarters of Citibank.

Rarity Notes

Common. HT-293 is the most available of the Merchants Exchange building varieties. Rarity R-1.

Cross References

Low 97; Rulau HT-293