QUERY: ST. LOUIS POST OFFICE TOKENS

Thanks for another fine E-Sylum. I am hoping your readers can help me locate any photos or scans of any of the St. Louis Post Office tokens. These tokens were listed in the old Donald Miller catalog of early US tokens as numbers 29 - 35. Rulau also lists them as under the Miller numbers in the U.S. Merchant Tokens section of his Standard Catalog of United States Tokens. These tokens have an eagle and shield design on the obverse. The reverse is blank, except for a hand engraved name of some business. I have recorded a couple dozen different names on these tokens -- all of which are unique. The listings, however, are confused, mostly based on vague descriptions. I suspect there are only two varieties of these tokens as follows:

A. Eagle above shield with flags to sides. Maker's name: J. M. Kershaw at bottom of reverse. white metal 25mm

B. Eagle standing on prostrate shield (laying on ground). Maker's name: Stubenrauch & Weber at bottom of obverse. copper 28mm

Rulau says two of these tokens appeared in auctions in 1850 and 1856, but doesn't say which one. Kershaw was in business from the 1840's into the early 1880's, and is best known for engraving the St. Louis Post Office provisional stamps during 1845-1846 (see David Schenkman article in Numismatist December 2015). Stubenrauch & Weber were only in business during 1863-1864 (perhaps a year earlier and/or later), during the Civil War. This makes their design of a prostrate shield appropriate.

From this information it is clear these pieces were used from the 1840's into the 1860's. What is not clear is whether all these tokens carry the maker's name or whether some are unsigned. Therefore I need to see images. I thought Google Images would pull up several images, but it only brought up three -- two copper pieces (one in the Eric Newman collection), and one white metal piece which I recently bought on eBay. And I have also seen the white metal piece in Schenkman's article. All of these four pieces are signed. Can anyone direct me to (or send me) images of these pieces? If you own one and want to remain anonymous, that is fine. I just want an image or a full description (does it have the maker's name?) including the engraved name.

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