Counterstamps

CD & CRR / (tiny) SEAL & PRESS CO. counterstamped on the obverse and CHICKA- / SAW. on an 1851 Braided Hair large cent. Brunk C-18, Rulau-MV 38P, but unattributed. Host coin Very Fine.

This is a tag or check for the Chicago, Detroit & Canada Railroad. The Chicago, Detroit & Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad was chartered in Michigan on 25 March 1858 to build a 60 mile 67 chain railroad from Fort Gratiot, just north of Port Huron, Michigan, to West Detroit. The line was constructed between 1858 and 1859. In 1859 the Grand Trunk Railway completed its line to Sarnia, Ontario, and instituted a ferry service across the St. Clair River to Port Huron, Michigan. The Grand Trunk Railway took a lease on the Chicago, Detroit & Canada Grand Trunk Junction Railroad, which remained a nominally independent company until 1928 and then became part of the Canadian National Railway's US subsidiary, the Grand Trunk Western Railroad. West of Detroit the Grand Trunk relied on the Michigan Central Railroad for access to Chicago. Rulau states that this is possibly a wood cord token. Chickasaw was either a stop along the route of the railway or the name of a train engine (however there is a Chickasaw just outside Chicago). These were struck by the Chicago Seal & Press company. This is the exact example listed in both Brunk and Rulau.

From the Steve M. Tompkins Collection.

Estimate: $ 150