Owner Comments:
The copper Mott token shown above is of the most common thick planchet plain edge variety, and at mint state 66, is the highest graded slabbed piece. It has a notable provenance, having previously been owned by Colonel E.H.R. Green and Eric P. Newman. This token is an early die state specimen, as it has yet to develop any signs of the prominent cud that eventually appeared in the upper left hand corner of the clock. One would be hard pressed to find any token or coin that typically looks so "beat up" in AU and MS grades.
After years of scholarly research, there are still sizeable gaps in our knowledge of this token, with substantial controversy still existing as to when and where they were produced.
Dated 1789, the Mott tokens were once believed to be America's first native trade tokens (store cards). A substantial number of researchers now believe that this token was created at a time subsequent to 1789, possibly even as late as 1844!. Any historical analysis is complicated by New York City's having other firms owned by people with the last name Mott. The correct Mott firm was involved in crafting clocks, silver and gold wares, and the like. It was sometimes confused with another Mott entity, having different principals, which sold groceries! Some have said that the 1789 date shown on the Mott token represented the year the firm commenced doing business. Others say the date is totally unrelated to business, and may have patriotically represented the year the US constitution was adopted, or the year George Washington was inaugurated as president. Still others postulate that the tokens had to have been produced well after 1789, because the eagle depicted on the reverse is so similar to that on John Reich designed gold coins first appearing in 1807; or represented some future anniversary date of the Mott firm, possibly as late as 50 years after its founding! Rulau and Cox have linked the token's design to the style of private issue pieces attributed to Robert S. Lovett, Jr. during the period 1832-1844.
Interestingly, if the token was actually produced in 1789, as appears unlikely, it would be considered a colonial era issue, however if it was produced in the 1830s, it would be considered a "hard times" period store card.