(1844) Copper Token HT-211, J. Cochran

Coin Details

Auction Record

$5,040 VF Details 08-20-2019 Stack's Bowers

Description

This copper token identifies J. Cochran as a bell founder in Batavia, New York, featuring a Liberty Head obverse with stars and the patriotic reverse inscription "An Army for Defense Not One Cent For Tribute, 1844." The reverse adapts the famous phrase attributed to Charles C. Pinckney during the 1797–98 XYZ Affair, a motto frequently used on Hard Times tokens as a statement of American self-reliance. Bell founding was a prestigious and specialized craft in early America. Cochran cast bells for churches, public buildings, courthouses, and other civic structures across western New York. The process required expertise in metallurgy (the correct copper-tin ratio for bell bronze), mold-making, and acoustic tuning—skills passed down through apprenticeship. The Cochran name has connections to early American bell founding, with a James Cochran acquiring Isaac Doolittle's bell-making business in Connecticut around 1797. Batavia, the seat of Genesee County in western New York, was a prosperous agricultural center on the road from Rochester to Buffalo. A bell founder in Batavia would have served the growing communities of the Genesee Valley, where new churches and civic buildings were being constructed as the region's population expanded. The 1844 date places this token at the very end of the Hard Times era.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. Copper, 1844. Bell founder token from western New York.

Cross References

Rulau HT-211