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Camp Independence,CA - Inyo County - c1865 - Beadry One Dollar Coin :

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / Medals & Tokens Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:300.00 - 600.00 USD
Camp Independence,CA - Inyo County - c1865 - Beadry One Dollar Coin :
Victor Beaudry, First Regiment, US Cavalry. $1.00. Brass, round. Victor Beaudry ran a trading post immediately outside the front entrance of Camp Independence, thus was not officially a sutler, since he was not inside the fort walls. Camp Independence was located in the center part of the Owens Valley and specifically built to protect miners and prospectors that worked the mines of Cerro Gordo in the adjacent White Mountains, as well as mills along the Owens River that treated ores from a number of small mines located up and down the valley. There were several Indian wars there, primarily from 1863-5, which drove out the whites. The Beaudry tokens are very rare. They exist in denominations of 1c, 5c, 10c, 25c, 50c and $1.00. The latter is the most common, with perhaps ten to fifteen pieces known. Perhaps thirty years ago we handled a small group of these tokens that were found in a leather poke inside a rusty can in the sagebrush out around Independence. The group had one of each denomination, and several of the 50 cent and $1.00 varieties. The low denominations were the surprise, since they were not known previously. Most were sold in one of our very early auctions in the 1980s. Several of these sold in one of the Schilling sales. This $1.00 piece is the first we’ve had to offer in many years.