Massachusetts--Northampton. "1776" Great Union Pacific Tea Co. Bowers-MA-600, Rulau-259. Gilt Brass. 34 mm. EF.<strong>Obv:</strong> Liberty portrait left, similar to that used on the United States Mints double eagle gold coins of 1849 to 1907, with 13 stars around the border and the fantasy date 1776 below. <strong>Rev:</strong> Embossed inscription GREAT UNION PACIFIC / 23 / TEA CO. The obverse has a very minor dent on the rim at 10 oclock, as well as a couple areas where the original plating was incompletely applied. The reverse, however, has nearly complete golden plating remaining. This rare card, probably produced to hand out at the companys 1876 exhibition at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, was made by T.N. Hickcox & Co. Only four to seven examples of this card are known.From the Q. David Bowers Collection. The plate card in the 2014 shell card reference by Q. David Bowers. Collector tag with attribution notation included.
