1866 E.H. Durfee Brass Trade Token

Coin Details

Auction Record

$1,020 MS65 03-25-2020 Stack's Bowers

Description

This 1866 brass trade token from E.H. Durfee postdates the Hard Times era but is included in the catalog as a continuation of the American merchant token tradition. The 1866 date places it during the Reconstruction era following the Civil War, when trade tokens circulated alongside the Civil War tokens that had flooded commerce during 1861–64. E.H. Durfee's trade token represents a transitional period in American token history, bridging the gap between the Hard Times tokens of the 1830s–40s and the more standardized trade tokens of the late nineteenth century. Trade tokens differed from advertising tokens in that they typically had a specific redemptive value—"Good For 5 Cents in Trade" or similar—rather than simply bearing the merchant's name and address. The brass composition was standard for trade tokens of this period, providing a durable and inexpensive medium that merchants could produce in quantity. The 1866 date coincides with a period of economic adjustment following the Civil War, when the transition from wartime to peacetime economy created commercial uncertainties similar to those experienced during the Hard Times.

Rarity Notes

Scarce. Post-Civil War brass trade token from 1866.

Cross References

E.H. Durfee trade token