Undated (ca. 1838) Bale & Smith Store Card Die Trial. Uniface Obverse. Musante GW-151A, Baker-512, var. Brass. MS-65 (PCGS). 20.3 mm. 56.7 grains. An extremely choice piece with beautiful, glossy olive surfaces accented by considerable bright golden outlines around the design and legends. Pleasantly lustrous with only the most superficial spotting visible under magnification. Though this obverse type was used for both the Bale & Smith card and the Atwoods Railroad Hotel token, this is a trial for the Bale & Smith card. Fine horizontal lines accent the design of the central motif, and this feature is only seen on the Bale & Smith cards. The curious planchet seems to have been intended to only try the central motif as most of the lettering, while clearly present in the die, is partially off the edge of the flan. The planchet itself is slightly out of round, but with neatly smoothed edges. The erratic lines and nodes on the reverse point to a cracked backing against which this obverse trial was struck. A very neat little piece, and clearly a genuine trial for the issue. Musante comments on a single piece known in copper that seems similar, but for a punched "57" underneath the horse, in reverse. He described that piece as "manufactured," so it might be of a very different character than this one. This piece is the <em>real deal</em> and extremely rare in this format, if not unique. A related item appeared in our August 2013 sale of the Ford Collection. That was a white metal trial on an irregular flan, with clipped edges. It included partial dentils and the full GEORGE WASHINGTON legend, but the issuers identity was off the bottom edge. That medal also exhibited the fine horizontal lines seen here, but they dont seem to have been as crisply defined. From the E Pluribus Unum Collection.
