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The history of the National Lead Company can be traced back to 1772, although it wasn’t known by that name until 1891, after several mergers. The company is probably best known for making Dutch Boy paint, which it started marketing in 1907. The brand was sold to Sherwin-Williams in 1980.

The National Lead Company issued the illustrated 32mm medalet in 1901. The inscription within a wreath on the obverse reads MADE FROM/PHOENIX/METAL/NATIONAL LEAD CO. Beneath the wreath, W. & H. CO., NEWARK, N.J. appears in tiny letters. This is the signature of the Whitehead & Hoag Company, a large manufacturer of tokens, medals, and badges. A bust facing left appears on the reverse within a wreath. The year 1901 is above, and H.H. VREELAND is beneath the portrait.

Rising Through the Ranks

Born on October 22, 1856, in Glen, New York, Herbert Harold Vreeland began working at the age of 13, earning money by filling ice carts. Five years later, he obtained full-time employment as a laborer at the Long Island Railroad, shoveling gravel on a construction team. He was rapidly promoted within the company, first as a track walker, then as a switchman, fireman, freight brakeman, and finally as a conductor. These positions gave him valuable insights into railroad operations. The next job he took was with the New York and Northern Railroad, where he soon became its general manager.

Railway President 

Vreeland’s next position was as president and general manager of the Houston, West Street and Pavonia Ferry Railroad Company, a street railway in Lower Manhattan. In 1893 this was one of several companies acquired by the newly incorporated Metropolitan Street Railway. Vreeland became president of that company in June 1893. He was only 35 years old at the time.

I’ve been unable to find a connection between the National Lead Company and Vreeland, but a safe assumption is that the firm was a major supplier of lead products to the railway. Of course, Vreeland controlled the company’s purse strings, so the National Lead Company would have been anxious to stay on good terms with him. The 1901 date tells us when the medal was issued but not how it was used. 

Annual Convention

On October 11, 1901, during the 20th annual American Street Railway Association convention, Vreeland was installed as the group’s president. Nearly 400 members and guests attended the banquet, and according to the association’s official report, “it was estimated that about seventy-five thousand persons inspected the exhibits.” The National Lead Company was among the many firms that placed exhibits, and it is logical to assume that the medalets were distributed there.

Satirical Medals

Not surprisingly, Vreeland’s position made him the target of controversy and criticism from those dissatisfied with New York City’s street railway system. Included in the April 7, 1906, issue of The Sun was an article concerning three large leather medals, one of which was “awarded” to him. They were sent compliments of L.J. Callahan, who owned a wholesale grocery and liquor business on Vesey Street. Vreeland’s medal, which was five inches in diameter, was presented to him as president of the City Railway Company “for the public spirit and care for the interests of the public in sweeping two feet of snow into the gutter and leaving it there for a week until the city removed it.”

Callahan, who was obviously displeased with various aspects of the city government, also sent a 7-inch medal to the Street Cleaning Department “for the efficient service to the city displayed in its failure to remove the dirt and snow from Church Street, between Vesey and Barclay.” A third medal, which was 6 inches in diameter, went to the police commissioner “as a token of my appreciation of the efficient manner   in which the policemen under your command neglected to compel the occupants of the stores in Church Street to clean the gutters and sidewalks after the last fall of snow, as well as permitting the City Railroad Company to sweep the snow into the gutter on the easterly side of the street.”

Before mailing the satirical medals to their recipients, Callahan displayed them for a week in his shop windows. When interviewed, he commented that Vreeland’s medal was smaller because he “was merely allowed to heap the snow into the gutter by commissioners Woodbury and Bingham.” It would be interesting to know whether any of the medals, each of which was unique, still exist, but the recipients likely discarded them. 

Career Achievements

Vreeland became a very wealthy man, and at the time of his death on January 31, 1945, he was chairman of the board of the Royal Typewriter Company and a director of several railway and industrial companies. According to his obituary, he was a member of the executive committee of the Belgian League of Honor and was decorated as an officer of the Crown of Belgium in 1932. He was also a member of the Holland Society and the Pilgrims of the United States. Not bad for a man with minimal formal education, and whose first full-time job was as a laborer on a railroad! 

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-addressed, stamped envelope. 

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A version of this article appears in the November 2025 issue of The Numismatist (money.org)