Catalog
1/2 Penny - Hosterman and Etter
| Issuer | Hosterman & Etter |
|---|---|
| Year | 1815 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 6.1 g |
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| Obverse description | Laureate and draped bust of George III facing right, occupying the central field, engraved in the style associated with Thomas Halliday. The circumferential legend HALFPENNY TOKEN arcs around the upper portion of the coin, while the date 1815 is placed in the exergue below the truncation of the bust. A finely toothed border frames the entire design. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | HALFPENNY TOKEN 1815 |
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| Additional information |
Hosterman & Etter operated a general store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and issued this token during a period when small change had effectively vanished from American commerce — the British naval blockade of the War of 1812 had driven specie into hoarding, and the gap never fully closed before 1815. Private merchants across the mid-Atlantic filled the void with copper tokens that circulated locally by mutual acceptance rather than legal authority. The Breton 883 attribution places this piece within the established Canadian and American token reference, though the issuer was purely Pennsylvanian.