MORE ON THE FORT BRIDGER WYOMING TOKENS

$1.00 Fort Bridger Post Trader Token from the Feisel sale

I have some information about the WA Carter / Fort Bridger Wyoming Territory $1 token featured last week in Duane Feisel's auction. I bought a hoard of these tokens from one of the John Ford auctions of Stacks. Of the twenty-one tokens in the lot, there were three of the $1 denomination and a single 50 cent denomination with the remainder all 25 cents. Ford purchased all of them in the mid-1970s and they were off the market until I disbursed them. I believe this reflects the relative rarity of these denominations.

There is interesting history of Fort Bridger and William A. Carter's relationship to the Fort well documented on the internet.

For instance from, http://genealogytrails.com/wyo/uinta/fortbridgerhistory.html, "William Alexander Carter known as "Mr. Fort Bridger" was the most important individual at Fort Bridger, Wyoming and a key player in the economic development of the intermountain west."

Carter arrived in 1859 and stayed at Fort Bridger until his death in 1881, thus providing some context for the period during which this series of tokens was used. The tokens themselves are primitive compared to other tokens of this era. Jerry Adams has written that Carter ordered the tokens in 1868. The tokens of J.K. Moore at Camp Brown in Wyoming Territory closely resemble Carter's. Moore had previously worked for Carter at Fort Bridger, and Camp Brown was given that name in 1870 suggesting a similar maker and timeframe.

Some of the original buildings are still there and the site is part of the Wyoming park system. That website is
https://wyoparks.wyo.gov/index.php/places-to-go/fort-bridger

$0.50 Fort Bridger Post Trader Token from the Ford hoard

$0.25 Fort Bridger Post Trader Token from the Ford hoard

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
FEISEL MAY 2020 TOKEN SALE SELECTIONS : Lot 117: Wyoming Territory Post Trader Token (https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n17a20.html)

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