The E-Sylum:  Volume 3, Number 25, June 18, 2000, Article 5

MAKING SENSE OF PATTERN LISTINGS 

   Michael Schmidt had this to say about one of the patterns 
   mentioned in last week's issue  "lot 293 -- Copper Pattern 
   of 1/4 eagle 1803  sold to a Mr. Moses for $.10 (ten cents)" 

   "This is an interesting listing.  Pollock makes no mention of a 
   copper quarter eagle of 1803 and in Dr. Judd's book he says 
   that there is no record of a copper 1803 quarter eagle except 
   for the listing in the Adams-Woodin book." 

   The following is Andrew Pollack's take on it: "I get the impression 
   that Judd thought AW-22 was actually the 1803 $2.50 KETTLE 
   gaming token, and he seems to indicate that he was actually aware 
   of some of these receiving the AW-22 attribution in catalogues. 
   I'm not aware of any specific auction records wherein AW 
   numbers  have been assigned to KETTLE pieces. 

   Although I doubt Edgar Adams would have been deceived by a 
   KETTLE token, it's possible that a mid-19th-century cataloguer 
   might have been, especially if the token had been altered by 
   removing the letters KETTLE.  Hence, I presume Adams got his 
   listing from an auction catalogue or a dealer's FPL. 

   I list the brass and silver KETTLE $2.50 in my book as P-8001 
   and 8010, respectively. Judd also mentions "copper gilt" 
   KETTLE  tokens. 

   I guess the question to resolve is "When did KETTLE tokens first 
   appear?"  If they were produced prior to 1859, then the listing can 
   probably be safely attributed to them. Unfortunately, since my 
   numismatic library is still in storage in NH, I can't do any checking." 

   The reference to Kettle tokens sent me scurrying to my 
   library to find L. B. Fauver's 1981 book, "Exonomia Symbolism 
   & Classification":    "The Kettle firm was begun during the 1780s 
   by Henry Kettle, and his sons Thomas and William joined the 
   firm sometime probably shortly after 1800.  Thomas Kettle took 
   over responsibilities about 1812 and continued to run the business 
   until at least the late 1830's... 

   The vast majority of Kettle pieces served as counters... their 
   great similarity in both design and size to contemporary gold 
   guineas, gold half  guineas, gold one-third guineas, and to 
   American gold quarter eagle and gold half eagles." (pp v-vi) 

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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