(c.1850) Token Miller Miss-8 Brass Daniel Ball & Co.

Coin Details

Description

Daniel Ball (born July 30, 1808; died December 30, 1872) was a steamboat operator and exchange office proprietor in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the corner of Monroe and Pearl Streets. Despite the Miller catalog prefix "Miss-8" (sometimes misread as Mississippi), Ball was a Michigan merchant. He operated the Exchange Bank from 1853 to 1861 and was a pioneer of steamboat navigation on the Grand River. Ball's brass token (Miller Mich-8) documents the frontier banking and transportation industry in western Michigan during a period of rapid settlement and commercial growth. His exchange office facilitated currency conversion in an era when hundreds of different bank notes circulated in the American economy. The brass alloy provided this token with a golden luster that differentiated it from common copper cents. Brass tokens were perceived as slightly more valuable than copper issues, making them more likely to be retained by recipients. Cataloged as Miller Miss-8.

Rarity Notes

Brass strikings are among the more commonly encountered metal variants for merchant tokens.

Cross References

Miller Miss-8