1891 So-Called Dollar HK-149, Pittsburg & Mexican Tin Mining Dollar

Coin Details

Description

The Pittsburg & Mexican Tin Mining Co., whose name and the date 1891 circle a shield topped by a castle-like building on the obverse, remains a puzzle; Hibler and Kappen found little about it despite long research. The reverse announces the event in seven lines: "Commemorating First Car Load of Metallic Tin Produced in North America." Tin ore occurs on the continent only in small amounts, and mining it in the United States was brief and irregular. The company still existed in 1894 but seems not to have lasted, and no corporate charter or listing of it as a defunct firm has turned up. Hibler and Kappen treat the piece as a true commemorative of a national commodity rather than a store card, and point to a February 1953 article on tin mining by Melvin and George Fuld in The Numismatist. HK-149 is struck in tin, 38 mm, and is Rulau Pit 30.

Cross References

HK-149; PCGS #642408; NGC #850266