Octagonal Massachusetts Civil War token- Apollo Gardens by Joseph Merriam

DCW

Here is a really rare piece, different in most every way from the long list of Civil War tokens that are referenced in the Fuld Storecard book. This is the plate example in the newest 3rd edition of that book, and it is perhaps one of only two or so known. I've had this for a few years, but recently had it slabbed by PCGS XF45.
Apollo Garden 576 Washn St Good for Five Cents, Miller MASS 4, MA-115Cc-1b PCGS XF45

Struck on a thin brass, octagonal "planchet," it was good for five cents at the establishment run by Hess & Speidel on Washington St in Boston (c1864-1865.)
This is most likely from the shop of Joseph H. Merriam, who would have cut it from a brass sheet intended for one of his stencils, the primary source of his business. It is crudely hand punched and most definitely served a utilitarian purpose.
Below is an original brass stencil from Merriam's shop in Faneuil Hall. It is of the same material and thickness as the above token. He was only at this address in 1856, moving the shop to its permanent location at 18 Brattle Square the following year. This is a very early example of his work:


Merriam would later produce the more well known, elegant 27mm tokens for the same establishment below (Now "Good for 6 Cents," and "Apollo Garden" became Apollo Gardens.") Struck in copper, these were "numismatic strikes" of the day. In white metal, I have seen them worn down to the VF level, so I'm sure they changed hands at the counter there. Who in their right mind would redeem these beauties for its cash equivalent?

To me, the portrait of Apollo on these tokens represents Merriam's finest work. It is nice, though, to have this crude octagonal token to display alongside it as reminder of its plain origin.
Thanks for looking!

OldEastside

I like em and his skills drastically improved

Steve

ricko

Very nice pieces... that second one is much more attractive than most store tokens. Cheers, RickO

CWT1863

Thank you for sharing. Those are two great store cards!

CaptHenway

Fascinating!

coinsarefun

The octagonal is incredible. What a great find

Zoins

This is why it’s important to have specialists. I can’t wait for the Merriam book

Of note, the punches look different for the token and the stencil. It looks like 4 sets of punches were used on the token! Is that some kind of record?

For the token’s middle punches, the serif at the top of the F comes down much lower on the token. For the token’s lower punches the serifs on the S don’t look as sharp angled as the ones on the stencil. Perhaps the stencil could be a match for the small “N” punch set used on the token?

DCW

@Zoins said:
Of note, the punches look different for the middle of the token and the stencil. The serif at the top of the F comes down much lower on the token. It looks like 3 sets of punches were used on the token!

Token was made c.1864. The stencil is from 1856, the only year he was at that address.

Also of note:
If you look very carefully at the address on the token, you will see that it was originally punched with a "5" under the "7."

Zoins

@DCW said:

@Zoins said:
Of note, the punches look different for the middle of the token and the stencil. The serif at the top of the F comes down much lower on the token. It looks like 3 sets of punches were used on the token!

Token was made c.1864. The stencil is from 1856, the only year he was at that address.

Also of note:
If you look very carefully at the address on the token, you will see that it was originally punched with a "5" under the "7."

It would have been great if there was a match between the punch sets, but that's probably too much to expect. It seems like the simple punch sets may not have been a valuable commodity given 4 were used for the early token. If so, and given the 8 year difference, it would make sense Merriam would use different punch sets for those.

The punch sets used for the later token are awesome. I'm guessing those were reverse punch sets used on the dies.

thisistheshow

These are great. I grew up just south of Boston. Now in my 40s, but living in Texas, I love how my semi-recent foray numismatics and exonumia connect me back home.

DCW

It is interesting to note that the Apollo Gardens reverse die was muled extensively in very small quantities with Merriam's other dies and those of J. Bolen. The below example is believed to have a survival population of 3, and one is locked away in the Pennsylvania Historical Society! Why Pennsylvania? I have no idea. Perhaps simply because it is Washingtonia and not about the Massachusetts die sinkers.
This one is in my collection, but I grabbed the photo from another site because I haven't gotten around to taking photos of it yet.

SaorAlba

Fascinating tokens and backstory. Love the 6c denomination also.

Boosibri

Always a great educational write up on Merriam! You are an expert!