Sachem Oyster Saloon Counterstamp

[brandm24]

In the Native-American tribes of the Algonquians the sachem was the elected leader or chief of a single tribe or a collection of allied tribes.

In early New York City a district leader or boss in the political machine known as Tammany Hall were known as sachems. Tammany Hall wielded enormous influence over not only city politics but at the state and national level as well. They were active for well over a century but their power began to wain in the 1930s and by 1967 had disbanded.

Old New York City directories list no establishment named the Sachem Oyster Saloon so its very existence has come into question. However, searching the address 273 Bowery, a saloon operated by a man named Leopold Loeber was located there in 1856 and another (the same?) by one Albert Jordan in 1858. The actual name of the establishment isn't recorded but it seems at least possible that this was the Sachem Oyster Saloon. It may be that it was a gathering place for members of Tammany Hall.

This saloon issue is considered an early American classic and as such commands a heavy premium on the rare occasion that an example comes to auction There are only five pieces identified, four on Spanish 2-Reales and just a single specimen on a 1-Reale.All are struck on coins dated between 1775 and 1818.

(Coin images courtesy of Steve Hayden)

The sketch is of an oyster saloon on Fulton Street c1875.

Bruce
   

[Figleaf]

Excellent fun, but also frustrating in that there are many options:

• The saloon was called Sachem. No direct political connection. So what was the token used for? It's certainly not cheap advertising.
• The saloon was called something else (The happy oyster?) but patrons called it Sachem, because of a tradition lost in the mist of time.
• The saloon was nicknamed Sachem because some Sachem had oyster-linked fun in the public view there.
• The saloon was called something else, but it had a back room that was used by Sachem for filling it with smoke and deciding stuff or perhaps for receiving payments of some kind.   Access to the room could be had on showing the token.

The clues I see are the scarcity of the well done and large single punch counterstamp and the value of most of the tokens: 2 reales/bits, therefore 25 cents. I think that makes the tokens unsuitable for a beer or waiter's token. No idea what a portion of oysters would have cost at the time, though.

Perhaps options 1 and 2 are both less likely and that makes option 3 less likely also. My objection to option 4 is that it's too much like Jamaica Inn

Peter

[brandm24]

It's certainly an advertising token, especially as it has an address on it. That's a very unusual feature for the time. Coins generally circulated locally and most locals would recognize the business by name only. These oyster bars were immensely popular in the city so the address was maybe necessary to differentiate it from others.

The establishments that appeared in the 1856 and 1858 enumerations may well have had the name Sachem but it just wasn't noted. The actual name of a business was often omitted in general listings unless they paid for a larger ad or were listed in a general category.

The name Sachem is telling though. Anything with that name probably had a connection to that corrupt, powerful political organization.

Bruce

[brandm24]

I was looking for the price of oysters in early New York but so far haven't found anything. I did come across this interesting New York Times article though. It's a fun read about he popularity of oysters in the day.
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/24/nyregion/city-lore-when-the-oyster-was-their-world.html

Bruce

[Figleaf]

There is a strong argument against it being an advertising token only: 25¢ is too expensive for a single ad (not even considering the cost of the large single punch). Use e.g. a UK penny to get the same effect for a small fraction of the price. You could buy them below face by the multiple kilo until well in the 1950s outside the UK. It just wasn't worth shipping them back.

Also, you'd expect that an ad token would have been made in large quantities, but that's just a secondary argument. Price is paramount.

Peter

[brandm24]

There's no way to know how many of these coins were stamped and circulated, but as only a handful seem to have survived probably not a large number.

It likely wasn't intended to be a "good-for" but of course they still had "street value" and were widely accepted in commerce until 1857 when all foreign coins and private currency were declared illegal.

The small number of surviving examples of this and other similar issues with professionally cut counterstamps is more the norm rather the exception. I don't know the economics of it but, apparently, the expense was acceptable to the buyer.

As far as UK coinage, or the availability of other non-US coins, the quantity just wasn't there. Surprisingly, foreign coins of any type other than the Spanish pieces were rarely encountered in circulation.

Bruce

[brandm24]

I didn't find retail prices for oysters but the prices for product right off the boat was approximately $20 per thousand (large 9 to 18" Extras") and $4 per thousand of the smaller "Cullins". These are prices realized in about 1850.

The attached image is of an oyster boat in the Long Island Sound c1883.

Bruce

[Figleaf]

20/1000 means 2 cents per oyster and 4/1000 is 0.4 cents per oyster. Don't know what a portion is like in the US. Around here, the standard is a half dozen (usually in combination with other shell fish) or a dozen. If that is the standard in the US also, the wholesale price for a dozen of big ones would have been 24¢, very close to 2 bits.

No idea what the wholesale/restaurant retail rate for oysters is. The closest I get is the wholesale/restaurant retail rate for wine in France: 400 to 800% (a bottle going for €5 in wholesale would cost €20 to 40 in a restaurant). However, IF I remember correctly, the working day wage for simple labour in the US at this time was $1 and I just cannot imagine spending one or two day's wages on a dozen of oysters.

Peter

[brandm24]

You're right, the average daily wage for unskilled workers was about a dollar. Skilled workers earned about $3 while craftsmen could earn up to $5 a day.

I couldn't find the retail price of oysters but it must have been very reasonable. The American demand for oysters was very high so the popularity and the wages of the time would have kept the price within reason.

Bruce