(1838-40) Token HT-418, Philadelphia PA

Coin Details

Auction Record

$288 AU58 11-18-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

This brass token advertises Spering, Mixsell & Innes, importers and dealers in foreign and domestic dry goods at 138 Market Street, Philadelphia. The firm name reflects a three-partner arrangement—the third partner Innes is sometimes omitted in abbreviated references but appears on the token itself. The obverse identifies the firm and address, while the reverse details their merchandise: imported and domestic dry goods. Market Street was Philadelphia's primary commercial thoroughfare and the center of the city's wholesale and retail dry goods trade. The concentration of textile merchants, hardware dealers, and importers along Market Street made it the equivalent of New York's Pearl Street or Boston's State Street as a hub for wholesale commerce. Spering, Mixsell & Innes competed with neighboring firms including Isaac Barton & Co. (27 South 2nd Street), Smith & Brothers (188 Market Street), and James Watson (11 North Fourth Street). The token's brass composition and standard 28mm diameter indicate it was produced to circulate alongside copper cents during the Hard Times coin shortage. Dry goods importers like Spering, Mixsell & Innes would have had particular incentive to issue tokens, as the scarcity of small change directly impeded their retail transactions with customers purchasing fabrics, notions, and household textiles.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. Philadelphia dry goods importer token. Brass, 28mm.

Cross References

Rulau HT-418