Advertising token for Lyon-Hall & Co. at Baltimore
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In the late 19th and early 20th century, Chinese cast coins, especially from Qing Dynasty, were often used by Chinese-American business or American business (that imported goods from Asia, particularly china) as advertising token by inscribing information related to their business, such as name, address etc on these coins.
This advertising token was stuck on a cast coin of China Qing Dynasty. The coin is “ 嘉庆通宝”, issued during the rule of The Jiaqing Emperor, the seventh emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fifth Qing emperor to rule over China proper from 1796-1820.
On the obverse (with traditional Chinese characters) are inscription of “China-Lyon-Hall & Co. -Japan./Baltimore”
On the reverse (with Manchu characters): “China-India-Japan./Matting importers”
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According to Russell Rulau’s note on page 54 of United States Trade Tokens 1866-1889:“Lyon & Co (J. Crawford Lyon and William A. Lyon) traded in carpets at 234 West Baltimore street from 1881 on. In 1884 they admitted John W. Hall and the business became Lyon-Hall & Co. and began trading in imports. They moved to 8 west Baltimore street in 1887 and to 105 Hopkins Place in 1890 and to 6 South street in 1892. John W. Hall withdrew in 1895, and name became Lyon Brothers.”This would indicate an issuing date of 1884-1894 for the piece posted here. Russell Rulau notes “only 4 known”, while Dr. Brunk’s manuscript cites the knowledge of six examples. Currently, I have 5 pieces in my collection: three struck on “乾隆通宝”, two on “ 嘉庆通宝”. Thus, the existing number of this type of token is largely underestimated.
清钱刻花常见，机制加刻的第一次见，谢谢何哥分享。
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