What The Experts Say...

HT 204B, Low 155.
The steer used on this token is the same as that used on Low 66 and Low 151.

(H. Joseph Levine, PCAC, The Charles Litman Collection, December 6, 2003)

T.D. Seaman operated a hotel in Belleville around 1837 and also apparently engaged in trade as a butcher. He was probably the same as one Tobias D. Seaman who was propietor of the Mechanics' Hotel, 188 Broad Street, Newark, N.J., from about 1845 to 1850 and, following that, in 1851 the South Ward Hotel at 398 Broadway in Newark.

It is probable tht HT 204 bearing the name DUSEAMAN was in reality issued for Seaman. The workmanship is very crude and for this reason the piece was probably rejected by Seaman when he first saw it. A diecutter at the Belleville Mint simply added an extraneous U in place of the period between the D and SEAMAN, creating the DUSEAMAN name. After the U was added the piece was suitable for general purposes and could be sold in to anyone in quantity. As such pieces sold for less than a cent but circulated at the calue of one cent each, a profit was to be made. As such it circulated in Canada.

(Rulau 9th Edition)