B.W. Titus Advertising Token
date: label: date made
content: ca 1860
name: label: maker
content: Scovill Manufacturing Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: In the early 1860s Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut minted this Civil War store card coin for the B.W. Titus dry goods store of Trenton, New Jersey. During the Civil War many people hoarded coins resulting in a shortage that made buying and selling merchandise difficult. Some retailers responded to the problem by minting their own coins. Usually valued at one cent, these tokens helped their issuers continue to do business until the practice of privately minted coins was banned by the Coinage Act of 1864.
label: Description (Brief)
content: The Scovill Company was established in 1802 as a button manufacturer and is still in business today. Scovill was an early industrial American innovator, adapting armory manufacturing processes to mass-produce a variety of consumer goods including buttons, daguerreotype mats, medals, coins, and tokens.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Obverse: The legend reads: B. W. TITUS/ 20 E. STATE ST. TRENTON N.J.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Reverse: The legend reads: DRY GOODS/ OIL CLOTHS/ CARPETS & C.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Connecticut, Waterbury
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Production and Manufacturing
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content: Advertising
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content: Industry & Manufacturing
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content: Scovill Manufacturing Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Scovill, Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1981.0296.1511
label: accession number
content: 1981.0296
label: catalog number
content: 1981.0296.1511
objectType: label: Object Name
content: token
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 1.95 cm; 3/4 in