CHECKS. Keweemaw, Michigan. Delaware Mine. Dated 7 January 1865. Miner vignette. Extensive ink writing on both sides, cancellation cut.
From the estate of Eldert Bontekoe.
The Delaware Mine, located at the far northern tip of Michigan's upper peninsula, was among the first copper mines in the young United States to be exploited at a large scale. Copper in the early 19th century was extremely important for lining the hulls of both merchant and military ships. Of particular interest to numismatists, however, is that the new sources of midwestern copper allowed the U.S. Mint to prepare cent planchets from domestically sourced, rather than imported British copper.