Brass daguerreian advertising token issued by Scovill, a leading mid-19th-century American manufacturer of photographic plates, chemicals, and apparatus. One side features a spread-winged eagle with shield and the inscription “SCOVILL’S DAGUERREOTYPE MATERIALS,” while the reverse bears the firm’s name and address, “SCOVILL’S, NEW YORK, 101 WILLIAM ST.”

These tokens functioned as trade advertising and promotional pieces during the height of the daguerreotype era, distributed to photographers, suppliers, and dealers rather than intended for circulation as currency. Their iconography deliberately echoes contemporary U.S. coinage, reinforcing associations of reliability, authority, and permanence at a moment when photography was still establishing commercial legitimacy.

The surface shows honest period wear with warm toning and light oxidation consistent with age and handling. All lettering remains legible, and the struck details of the eagle, shield, and stars are clearly defined. A scarce and highly desirable piece of early American photographic ephemera, particularly appealing to collectors of daguerreotypes, photographic history, and 19th-century advertising objects.