R.H. Macy & Co. John Matthews Soda token

DCW

Here is a tough merchant token from the 1870s. It features the John Matthews Soda Co obverse with a cherub fighting off the bear who is after his drink and the rare R.H. Macy & Co. reverse. (The same Macy of modern day department store fame.) 27mm, silvered copper.

Rowland Hussey Macy started his dry goods businesses in Massachusetts in the mid 1840s before moving to NYC in 1858 and forming R.H. Macy & Co. Apparently, Macy's logo has always included a star, which according to legend comes from a tattoo that Macy got when he worked on a Nantucket whaling ship, the Emily Morgan, in his youth. This one has the number 7 in the middle of the star. Presumably, Macys had a soda fountain in their store, and that is the connection to John Matthews' Co.

sellitstore

Is the 1876 date related to the Centennial? Were these perhaps distributed at the expo in Philadelphia that year?

DCW

Could be a centennial thing. Here is another dated 1876 with another reverse die. This is the best John Matthews token I've seen, having graced the collections of Q. David Bowers and Steve Tanenbaum:

Justacommeman

Very very cool

m

BillJones

Here is the Mathews Civil War token. The Fuld number is NY 630 AU-1a.

I wrote and article about Mathews for the Civil War Token Journal back in the 1990s. It used to be posted on their site, but the last I checked, it is no longer there.

Oddly enough, when I was dealer, this was no an easy token to sell, despite that the fact that Mathews was a pioneer in the soft drink industry.

stevek

Cool piece.

Macy's sure did it "right" back then. IE: not a wooden coin.

Broadstruck

@DCW said:
This is the best John Matthews token I've seen, having graced the collections of Q. David Bowers and Steve Tanenbaum:

Here's mine also ex: Tanenbaum

1876 John Matthews, Soda Water Apparatus, New York, 28mm Diameter, Rulau NY-190 / Miller NY-525 / Wright 674, R-4, Ex: Steve Tanenbaum Collection.

A tough to find in high grade newp from member/dealer NewEnglandRarities which was hard to resist as there's something very appealing about a woman with a dolphin in her face. This obverse design was used on a more common 1863 CWT with a 7 line script reverse... However finding the 1876 trade token which also features the wild reverse design of a cherub in such a hurry to beat the bear off the soda fountain with a monkey wrench that it looses his diaper has been challenging as all most are seen heavily circulated with signs of abuse. Matthews was the inventor of the soda fountain and the reverse features his company logo designed by Karl Muller... Who must have frequented many opium parlors in his day.

Zoins

@Broadstruck said:
there's something very appealing about a woman with a dolphin in her face.

These are very nice pieces and I would say classic tokens, but are we sure that is a dolphin in front her her face? It doesn't really look like a dolphin to me as there appears to be no rostrum (beak) or dorsal fin. Also the tail doesn't look like a dolphin fluke to me. It would be useful to find a fish more similar to the design.

I also just noticed the eagle head under her neck which is a nice touch.

Broadstruck

@Zoins said:

@Broadstruck said:
there's something very appealing about a woman with a dolphin in her face.

These are very nice pieces and I would say classic tokens, but are we sure that is a dolphin in front her her face? It doesn't really look like a dolphin to me as there appears to be no rostrum (beak) or dorsal fin. Also the tail doesn't look like a dolphin fluke to me. It would be useful to find a fish more similar to the design.

I also just noticed the eagle head under her neck which is a nice touch.

Research wise from what I've found it was consider a dolphin.

The eagle above the date is Karl Muller's logo.

coinsarefun

Super cool!

Aegis3

@BillJones said:

>

I wrote and article about Mathews for the Civil War Token Journal back in the 1990s. It used to be posted on their site, but the last I checked, it is no longer there.

The CWTJ is up on the NNP, up to 2016, so it should be there with minimal searching.

Timbuk3

Nice !!!

Treashunt

Is he hitting that poor bear on the head?

ricko

What does the 7 inside the star represent?? Also, I agree, while it may be intended to be a dolphin, it is a very poor representation of one...What was it supposed to signify?? Cheers, RickO

stevek

They should have placed a brief description somewhere on the coin, so that folks 150 years later could know what the coin depiction meant.

sellitstore

The dolphins in the field were used on certain ancient coins, like Syracuse tetradrachms.

https://coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=syracuse+and+delphin+and+tetradrachm

Zoins

@sellitstore said:
The dolphins in the field were used on certain ancient coins, like Syracuse tetradrachms.

https://coinarchives.com/a/results.php?results=100&search=syracuse+and+delphin+and+tetradrachm

Those look much more like dolphins to me. They have rostrums and dorsal fins. Given the artistry and detail on the more modern pieces, I would have expected the artist to know what a dolphin looked like. This is unlike the Pike’s Peak Gold territorial coins where the engravers has never seen Pike’s Peak. Either way, these tokens are nice.

DCW

@ricko said:
What does the 7 inside the star represent??

The number was likely some kind of "check" to pay at the counter. They are found with different numbers. Here is one with the number nine:

grip

Looks more like a ...Polly-wog.(sp)

jonruns

I think I've also seen a "14"

DCW

Here is one with the "14" in the star, courtesy of tokencatalog.com:

CaptHenway

The different numbers are interesting. I don't suppose that Macy's had more than one store at this time?