(ca. 1670) Token New Yorke in America Brass

Coin Details

Auction Record

$94,000 XF40 02-22-2013 Stack's Bowers

Description

This circa 1670 "NEW YORKE IN AMERICA" token in brass is one of the earliest numismatic items associated with the colony of New York. The obverse features an eagle with spread wings, a device that would later become strongly associated with American iconography, while the reverse displays a cupid-like figure or small winged figure. The legend NEW YORKE IN AMERICA identifies the token's intended place of circulation, using the early English spelling "Yorke" that was common in the seventeenth century. The brass composition gives the token a golden color that distinguishes it from copper contemporaries. New York had been acquired by the English from the Dutch only a few years earlier, in 1664, when the Duke of York (the future James II) took possession of New Amsterdam and renamed it. This token therefore dates from the earliest years of English rule over the former Dutch colony, a transitional period when English commercial interests were establishing themselves in a colony that had previously operated under Dutch trading practices and monetary conventions. The token's purpose is undocumented — it was a trade token issued by a merchant, a promotional piece for the colony, or a circulating medium intended to supplement the chronic shortage of small-denomination coinage in the colonies. The brass version is one of two known metals for this type, the other being pewter, and both are extremely rare survivals from the founding era of English New York.

Rarity Notes

Extremely rare. One of the great rarities of early American numismatics. Fewer than a dozen examples are known in brass. Auction appearances are rare events.

Cross References

PCGS #226; NGC #108105; Breen 210; cf. PCGS #229 (Pewter version); New York colony established 1664