Ugly…but Oh So Rare!
Did you ever have a token that was not only a maverick (a token with no city or state in its inscription) but also in horrible condition? If you’re a longtime token collector, most likely you have at least one or two pieces that fall into that category. I certainly do, and as it turns out, one of them was issued by a merchant located in the same city where I acquired it many years ago.
A Challenging Attribution
For at least 30 years, the illustrated token was filed away in one of my boxes of mavericks. I would notice it from time to time when I looked for attribution candidates. Although it didn’t offer many clues to its town of origin, it was intriguing for a couple of reasons. For one, it was obviously issued during the 19th century. And only a small percentage of early trade tokens have the word “saloon” in their inscriptions.
Occasionally, the answer to a challenging attribution will materialize unexpectedly where you’d least expect to find it. While searching through mid-19th-century New York City newspapers to see what I could learn about the issuer of an obsolete note, I stumbled across an 1863 advertisement for the Dime Hotel at 84 Main Street. It offered rooms for 50 cents per day and proclaimed that it “continues to be famous as the very best restaurant in Richmond.” The proprietor’s name was W.H. Hayward.
on the second floor of his Dime Hotel located in Richmond, Virginia.
(Photo: David Schenkman)
Virginia Discovery
The thought of discovering a previously unknown early Virginia token was intriguing, so I shifted my search to Richmond newspapers, starting in 1857. I found numerous other ads for the establishment, with Heard & Company listed as its proprietor.
Apparently, William H. Hayward became its owner two years later. Typical of his ads was one in the November 4, 1859, issue of the Richmond Herald, where readers were tantalized by an offer of “the very choicest oysters, fish, chops, wines, game, steaks, liquors, cigars, &c. &c. to be obtained in any eating house in this country.” It sounded so good I started to feel hunger pangs while reading it!
Dime Hotel
During the early 1860s, Hayward’s ads gave the location of his business as 84 Main Street, “near Fourteenth or Pearl.” In 1862 he advertised the “Georgia Saloon, a lodging house, on the second floor of the Dime Hotel on Main St., near 14th.” He also referred to the Georgia House as “formerly the Dime Saloon.”
Hayward experimented with other business ventures, and in the December 18, 1865, Richmond Dispatch, he advertised his “Men’s Underwear House” at 84 Main Street. Interestingly, early that month it was announced that “The store and dwelling on Main Street, between Fourteenth and Locust Alley, occupied by William H. Hayward and Messrs. Towers & Co., were rented at auction yesterday by James M. Taylor, at the enormous sum of $2725 per annum.”
The reporter commented that “such exorbitant rents are the ruination of the business prospects of Richmond, and cannot be afforded when the property is to be used for useful purposes.” The intended “purposes” of the property are not known.
(Photos: New York Daily Herald [Dime Hotel ad at left] & Richmond Dispatch)
Short-lived Hat Factory
Whether Hayward relocated or the numbering of Main Street changed is not known, but his address was given as 1408 Main Street in most ads in 1866 and later. By this time, he was also involved in another type of business: Moore & Hayward’s Southern Hat Manufactory, listed at 34 Main Street and Exchange Alley. This enterprise was short-lived, and in March 1867 an ad offered a “Hat factory for sale. Capt. Wm. H. Hayward, Agent, Dime Saloon, 1408 Main Street.” At some point, Hayward had evidently closed the saloon because in 1869, he announced, “The Old Dime Saloon, 1408 Main Street, re-opened again on the European plan.” Another one of his enterprises was a hotel in Chester, a small town about 20 miles south of Richmond.
Domestic affairs were resolved much differently in the 19th century than today. An article in the July 26, 1870, Staunton Spectator tells us that Captain W. F. Hayward, proprietor of the hotel at Chester, a summer retreat on the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, this afternoon shot and mortally wounded his son-in-law, B.F. Lindsay, for the seduction of his (Hayward’s) daughter. Hayward is also proprietor of the Dime Hotel, in Richmond, and is well known and much respected. He called Lindsay into a hotel room, and taxed him with his crime. Lindsay, it is said, confessed and professed himself willing to receive such punishment as he merited, and Hayward then commenced firing on him, wounding him in the abdomen and thigh.
Hayward was acquitted on the grounds of “justifiable homicide.”
It is usually very difficult, if not impossible, to determine the maker of a maverick trade token.
Zetelle’s Eating Saloon
On each side of the token Hayward issued, HAYWARD’S/1.00/DIME SALOON appears in incuse lettering. The piece is 28mm and struck in lead. Although it isn’t listed in the second edition of Virginia Tokens, which was published in 2015, a token that is very similar in style is cataloged as Z5-12. Its inscription, ZETELLE’S/12/EATING SALOON, is incuse on the obverse and reverse, and it is the same size and composition as the token issued by Hayward. My good friend, Eric Schena, discovered it, and his research showed that it was issued in the 1860s.
(Photo: David Schenkman)
It is usually very difficult, if not impossible, to determine the maker of a maverick trade token. This is especially true of incuse lettering tokens such as these. However, I am certain that the Hayward and Zetelle tokens were struck by Charles Bellenot, a name that is virtually unknown in numismatic circles. The establishment of this die-sinker and brand cutter was at 1410 Main Street, right next door to the Dime Saloon and only a couple blocks from Zetelle’s 1202 Main Street location. Bellenot’s proximity to the two merchants is strong evidence in itself, and in addition, he was the only person in Richmond offering this type of service in the 1860s.
From Food to Birds
In April 1866, when Bellenot first advertised in Richmond newspapers, his address was 71 Main Street. A year later, he relocated to the 1410 Main Street address, where he remained for many years. By the early 1870s, his primary business was the sale of pet birds. As for Hayward, his property at Chester was sold at auction in February 1875. I’ve found no mention of his business activities, if any, after that date.
Illustrations of the Zetelle’s Eating Saloon token were provided by Eric Schena, who also searched microfiche directories. He found that Bellenot, whose business was previously in New Orleans, first turns up in Cohen’s New Orleans & Lafayette Directory for 1851 as Bellenot, C., stencil and general engraver, and die sinker, corner Bienville & Exchange Place (sometimes called Exchange Alley). He remains at that same location as an engraver and stencil cutter through to the 1860-1861 Hellier’s New Orleans Business Directory.
I welcome readers’ comments. Write to me at P.O. Box 2866, La Plata, MD 20646. If a reply is desired, please enclose a self-
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A version of this article appears in the February 2025 issue of The Numismatist (money.org).