1837 Hard Times Wall Street Merchants Exchange HT293 Exonumia

This listing is for the photographed 1837 Executive Experiment Hard Times Tokens. Choose by coin. Great detail on these, but damaged (as can be seen in the photos). Price is reflective of damage. Rarer type of hard times token.

What's up with the design? The Tontine Coffee House, named for Neapolitan banker Lorenzo di Tonti, in early New York City was a meeting place on the northwest corner of Wall Street and Water Street for merchants, stockbrokers, and traders, leading many to consider it one of the early venues for what would become the New York Stock Exchange. The original wood structure and many others in Manhattan burned in 1835

Hard-times tokens are American large or half cent-sized copper tokens, struck from about 1833 through 1843, serving as unofficial currency. These privately made pieces, comprising merchant, political and satirical pieces, were used during a time of political and financial crisis in the United States.