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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Coinsandmedals, post: 3745497, member: 107435&quot;]What a cool piece of history! It makes sense that we would use Boulton’s token coinage for planchets when given the opportunity. They were high quality and it would have saved the mint workers a good deal of time.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can not help but wonder if that token ended up at the US mint more deliberately than might be expected. It is no secret that Boulton was in contact with numerous people in an attempt to secure a contract to strike US coins. This was never approved in part because Jefferson argued that the striking of US coins in a foreign country was a violation of our sovereignty. I wonder if this token found its way to the mint as part of a “salesman sample” used in an attempt to persuade Congress to approve the contract. This went on for several years, but it hit a dead end at every turn. It was even suggested that Boulton should move his equipment to the US to strike the coins. This proposal ultimately went nowhere. It seems like plenty of opportunities existed for this token to have deliberately ended up at the Mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can also see how this token may have ended up at the mint accidentally. Eventually, Boulton did provide the needed planchets for our copper coinage. I suppose this Druid could have found its way into one of the planchet shipments and the mint workers may have decided to try it out. This would make sense given that Boulton&#039;s first shipment arrived in 1797 and was closely followed by another in May of 1798. Given everything that was going on at the Soho Mint at the time (i.e. reconstruction, English contract transitions, negotiations to set up foreign mints, etc.) it seems plausible that he did not exercise the same degree of oversight when fulfilling the planchet order. The chaos occurring at the Soho Mint paired with Boulton&#039;s rocky relationship with the US suggests that the possibility of a rogue token finding its way into the planchet shipment is at least somewhat plausible.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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