Cent - Hard Times Merchant Token - H.M. and E.I. Richards Jewelry (Attleboro, Massachusetts) ND

Reverse

Script: Latin

Lettering:
LAFAYETTE A, FRIEND TO AMERICA & FREEDOM
DIED MAY 20 1834

Comment

In Attleboro, Massachusetts, the firm of H. M. & E.I. Richards, controlled by two cousins, Henry Manning Richards and E. Ira Richards, produced a wide variety of Hard Times tokens. Low traces the beginning of the firm to Ira's father, also named Ira Richards, who began manufacturing jewelry in Attleboro about 1815. The two cousins were employed by him until 1830, when the firm of H. M. & E. I. Richards was formed. The company later dissolved, and in 1837 H. M. Richards went to Philadelphia where he continued the manufacture of jewelry articles.