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UNITED STATES: AR half dollar token, VF on F host, Merchant countermark, J.L. POLHEMUS / DRUGGIST

Currency:USD Category:Coins & Paper Money / World Coins - United States Start Price:180.00 USD Estimated At:200.00 - 300.00 USD
UNITED STATES: AR half dollar token, VF on F host, Merchant countermark, J.L. POLHEMUS / DRUGGIST
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UNITED STATES: AR half dollar token, VF on Fine host, Merchant token contermark, J.L. POLHEMUS / DRUGGIST / 190 J. ST. COR. 7TH / SACRAMENTO, CAL. with incuse mortar & pestle below on Peru AR 4 reales 1836 Cuzco (KM-151.1), RR. J. L. Polhemus of Sacramento (1825-1866) is perhaps the most prominent California druggist of the Gold-Rush era. When news of the Gold Rush reached the East Coast, Polhemus took the ship Orpheus which sailed on 30 January 1849 for San Francisco, stopping in Valparaiso, Chile, before arriving 8 July 1849 in San Francisco. Polhemus first worked for Wydown & Watts, druggists, before setting up his own pharmacy opposite the Magnolia Saloon in Sacramento in August of 1850. He moved to 190 J Street in December of that year, where he remained until his death in 1866. Polhemus is well known to some numismatists for creating advertising counterstamps on many U.S. silver and a few gold coins and a number of foreign silver coins.