1840 Token HT-205 Brass Bergen Iron Works MS(PCGS#77135)

November 2019 Baltimore Colonial Coins and Americana Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

194

等级

AU58

价格

1,432

详细说明

New Jersey--Lakewood. 1840 Bergen Iron Works. HT-205, Low-142, W-NJ-180-10b. Rarity-2. Brass. Plain Edge. 20.9 mm. AU-58 (NGC). Medal alignment, with a slight counterclockwise rotation. Lovely medium brassy-gold surfaces with iridescent highlights of pinkish-apricot evident as the token dips into a light. Both sides exhibit an exceptionally smooth, hard, glossy appearance for the issue with appreciable satin luster remaining. Sharply struck everywhere save the centers, as expected. The relief of the eagle's breast was too high directly opposite the clasped hands, so neither of these design features received adequate metal from the planchet to fill out when these were struck. Above average condition for an example of this HT number. These were meant to circulate through the company's store and consequently almost all known are well worn and lack most or all of their original luster. The Bergen Iron Works, located in what is now Lakewood Township, was an operation similar to that of the Howell Works. Regionally abundant bog iron ore was smelted using charcoal as fuel and oyster shells as flux. Later in the decade that this 1840 token was issued, new refining processes and the use of anthracite coal from Pennsylvania rendered this process obsolete. The mill continued operations into the 1850s. The factory was located at about four miles from the north end of Barnegat Bay where the railroad crossed the Metedeconk River. Provenance: From the Aim High Collection. Click here for certification details from NGC.