Civil War Diesinker J.H. Merriam Counterstamped 1853 Quarter with an Associated Piece of Exonumia

DCW · October 1, 2021 10:23AM

J.H. Merriam Counterstamp on 1853 with arrows Seated Liberty Quarter, ex. Dave Schenkman

This piece might not look like much, but it is a very important piece in my collection of Joseph Merriam tokens and medals. This has been a focus of mine for years, and I am writing a book cataloging his work. While this is obviously neither a token nor a medal, it is thought to be unique and most likely represents Joseph Merriam's earliest work relating to numismatics. I have given this identification number "JHM-1" for this reason.
Merriam is mostly remembered for being the diesinker of the famous "Good For A Scent" Civil War Token:
He was only 39 years old when he died in an insane asylum. For the majority of his time as a diesinker, his business was located at 18 & 19 Brattle Square in Boston as shown above. His earliest address, however, is noted as 147-2 Washington St. He was only there from 1854-55. So this old quarter is a magical piece for me, one in which I imagine the young man proudly stamping his address and sending it out into circulation to advertise his business. It is the only example of his counterstamp known on any coin.
It has been owned by numismatist and author, David Schenkman, for a long time. Perhaps 50 years! After some negotiation, he graciously sold this important relic to me last year. What a guy! It is my privilege to be its current custodian.
I am always on the look out for associated pieces of exonumia relating to this diesinker. I believe it brings the tokens and medals to life. An example is when I found at auction this little cardboard box from Merriam's shop:

So, can you imagine my heart rate when I came across this?

I believe this incredibly rare piece is a little device used to pull tacks, and it is stamped with the same counterstamp as on the quarter! So, it falls in that timeframe of when Merriam resided on Washington St, 1854-1855. Unbelievable that something like this still exists, and yet it found its way to me!
Thanks for looking, everyone.

jayPem · October 1, 2021 10:26AM

Beyond merely cool...this is the stuff I dig the most! 😎

BillJones · October 1, 2021 11:44AM

Do you know any more about why Merriam died in a mental institution? I never knew that.

Treashunt · October 1, 2021 11:54AM

neat, I like it

AlexinPA · October 1, 2021 1:13PM

Outstanding find.

DCW · October 1, 2021 1:45PM

@BillJones said:
Do you know any more about why Merriam died in a mental institution? I never knew that.

Not many people know that. Here is his death certificate, which lists the cause of death as "general paralysis. "
He was committed as an "insane person" to the Butler Hospital in Rhode Island by his own wife and his brother. I have the paperwork on that as well for the book.

kaz · October 1, 2021 5:51PM

"General Paresis" or "Paralysis" was a term used to denote neurosyphilis, a common ailment of the (pre-penicillin) era. At that time, they did not have reliable serologic tests for infections, so they relied on clinical clues, so any C.O.D. should be taken with a grain of salt. Still, it is probably the most likely neurodegenerative process to kill someone at such a young age, at that time.
It's great that you have been able to acquire these important artifacts, and are preparing a reference work on Merriam.