Counterstamps

A. KLINGER / JEWELER / ELKHART IND (in a circle) on an 1853 Braided Hair large cent. Brunk K-375, Rulau IND-100. Host coin Very Fine.

Alexander Klinger (1833-1915) was a jeweler, silversmith, watchmaker and inventor who owned a jewelry store in Elkhart, IN in the late 1850s. Sometime around 1860 he moved to Niles, MI and operated there as a silversmith. He applied for a patent (No. 123405) in 1872 for a shoe fastener and again in 1894 (No. 523581) for an ejecting apparatus. Klinger learned the jewelry trade about 1849, and later conducted business at Elkhart, White Pigeon and Niles. He then moved to California, MO, in 1871, and three years later discovered beds of tiff and iron on his property. The California Mining Company, consisting of fourteen members, was organized, and their shipment of this product soon reached twenty carloads monthly. Later Mr. Klinger opened a bed on his own account, and managed this for some time. In 1883 he came to Aurora Springs, MO, opened a jewelry store and in addition engaged occasionally in mining and shipping tiff. He was mayor of Aurora in 1885 and during that year, in connection with the city council, many improvements were instituted and perfected in and about Aurora. A splendidly well struck example of this impressive counterstamp that emanated from his time when located at Elkhart in the later 1850s.

From the Steve M. Tompkins Collection. Purchased from Greg Capps.

Estimate: $ 200