Can someone help me with this token Ferracute Machine Co.

[coinsarefun]

I think its Brg 3 ?.

I don't have this one yet. Its the sellers image.

I think that it may be uncirculated. Do you know the current market value on them?

 

Thanks,

 

Stefanie

 

 

[silvermonger-migration]

not a clue but I like it!

[Just Bob]

No info on the token, but here is some on the company:

 

From the Smithsonian website:

 

The Ferracute Machine Company was formed by inventor Oberlin Smith in Bridgeton, New Jersey in 1863, incorporated in 1877, and ceased operations in 1968. This company specialized in metal forming presses.

 

 

 

 

Initially, Ferracute supplied the makers of tin cans, and by 1891 it offered a full line of machinery for setting up canneries. Ferracute also produced coin presses. A special order of three such presses was installed in the Imperial Chinese mints in 1898 under the direct supervision of Ferracute employee, Henry A. Janvier.

 

 

 

 

This metal-forming press technology proved vital for stamping out and forming the profusion of lighweight machine parts and consumer goods that came to characterize 20th century industry. Ferracute presses were used to stamp out one-piece pots and pans, as well as parts for bicycles, adding machines, phonographs and automobiles. Orders for presses and dies came from electric companies, Ohio bicycle makers, Eastman Kodak, and the U.S. Mint. Automobile companies such as Cadillac, Chrysler, Ford, Packard and Pierce became substantial customers starting in 1906. Ferracute produced 39 presses for Ford's Highland Park plant in 1910. Ferracute had no in-house sales force but operated through commission agents. Scientific management was implemented at Ferracute by Frederic Parkhurst, a disciple of Frederick W. Taylor, before World War I.

 

 

 

 

Ferracute was sold to George E. Bass in 1937, and he modernized the plant. During World War II Ferracute supplied the Frankford Arsenal in Philadelphia, which was engaged in the manufacture of shell casings and airplane components. Ferracute also sold large numbers of military presses to Britain and the Soviet Union. After the war the work force was unionized, and the company began producing non-metal forming machines. However, it continued to lose market share, and the plant was closed in 1968. The assets and rights were sold to the Fulton Iron Works of St. Louis.

 

 

An update on the current state of the plant building, from the New Jersey website:

 

Ferracute Machine Company

Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund

Historic Site Management Grants

 

Grant Award:$15,000 (2004)' $15,375 (2007)

Grant Recipient:South Jersey Economic Development District

County:Cumberland

Municipality:Bridgeton

Inventor and industrialist Oberlin Smith founded the Ferracute Machine Company in 1863, and constructed the current Queen Anne-style headquarters building and Main Machine Shop in 1904. The new structures were designed to be fire resistant. The company produced pressed metal parts for a variety of machinery throughout the world. The three-acre site operated until 1968. This is the last historic industrial site in Bridgeton, once an important regional industrial center.

The operations closed at the site in 1968 and the buildings have since remained vacant. After trying unsuccessfully to interest private developers to reuse the site, the city of Bridgeton acquired the building in 2007.

 

The current grant will help fund the preparation of a Phase I Archaeological Survey of the site. A previous Trust grant helped fund a preservation plan and design charette to explore opportunities for adaptive use.

 

 

Pictures of the building here.

 

 

[cpm9ball]

From the description in Rulau, I'm pretty sure you are right about it being Brg 3. The book lists the value at $25 in EF, but you can't depend on this as the book is 10 years old.

 

Chris