1834 Token HT-200 Copper Howell Works Garden NJ, BN MS(PCGS#77556)

November 2019 Baltimore Colonial Coins and Americana Auction

拍卖行

Stack's Bowers

批号

190

等级

XF40BN

价格

3,032

详细说明

New Jersey--Allaire. 1834 Howell Works Garden. HT-200, Low-81, W-NJ-100-10a. Rarity-4. Copper. Plain Edge. 22 mm. EF-40 BN (NGC). Medal alignment, the reverse rotated approximately 30 degrees clockwise. Deep antique copper patina with a few blushes of intermingled pale rose. Both sides are hard, tight and overall smooth in hand with only wispy handling marks and ancient surface build up evident upon close inspection. Bold detail to most design elements, although the grape leaves are blunt, as struck, and typical of the variety. HT-200 is not only marginally scarce in an absolute sense, but the present example is at the upper reaches of quality (most grade Fine to EF). In 1802 teenaged James P. Allaire went to work in New York City for Francis Ellsworth, a brass founder. At age 18, with just 25 cents in his pocket, he married his cousin Frances Duncan, according to his own account. The couple had nine children, five of whom lived to adulthood. In 1806 he set up his own shop in New York City. Not long afterward he received a commission from Robert Fulton to cast the air chamber for the steamship Clermont, which in 1807 had successful trials on the Hudson River. This established him in the making of marine steam engines and also ships, a field in which he soon became famous. After Fulton died in 1815, Allaire leased his shop and facilities in Jersey City. In 1816 the business was moved to New York City and combined with Allaire's brass foundry on Corlear Hook, where he made various products including ships. Iron components for were acquired from others. In the meantime in 1812 in New Jersey, William Griffith acquired a sawmill on a large parcel of land in Monmouth County. He established the Manasquan Furnace there to smelt bog iron ore found in quantity nearby. Iron in solution was precipitated into masses of decayed leaves and vegetation. In 1821 Benjamin B. Howell, then lessee of the iron works, called Allaire's attention to the facility as a source of material for his business. Not only was ore in abundance, but there were abundant trees from which charcoal could be made to use in the smelting process. In April 1822 Allaire acquired the 5,000-acre property for $19,000 and changed its name to the Howell Furnace, after which it transitioned to become the Howell Works. In 1828 the State Legislature authorized the formation of the Howell Works Company with a capital of $150,000, for the purpose of making iron, hollow ware, and brass castings. Allaire Village became a self-contained community with its own church (Episcopal, used as a school on weekdays), post office, carpenter and woodworking shop, grist mill, bakery, and apothecary shop. The general store used tokens such as offered here. Provenance: From the Aim High Collection. Click here for certification details from NGC.