1939 Chicago Board of Trade "Messenger Boy" Badge

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1939 Chicago Board of Trade "Messenger Boy" Badge - RARE

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Our Price: $650.00

Sale Price: $495.00

Vintage Collection

Product Code: VT148-MSGR35

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Description

This extremely rare (One-of-One) Messenger Badge #28 was issued in 1939 on the Chicago Board of Trade. Messengers on the CBOT were known as "Messenger Boys" and our records indicate they were used as far back as the 1870s. Young boys, as young as 13 years old, were hired by member firms to carry messages to exchange traders and assist them in whatever was needed.

"From the Western Union desks, located in a great railed-in space in the northwest angle of the floor, came an incessant ticking of the telegraph sounders, and messenger boys pushed their way hither and thither across the floor with yellow envelopes in their hands." - Fame and Fortune Weekly, Stories of a Boy Who Makes Money. A Corner in Corn; or How A Chicago Boy Did the Trick. October 20,1905

This was a highly coveted position as it often lead to a position as a floor trader. John Gratin McCarthy, known as the "honest Irishman", was elected president of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1939. He got his start as a Messenger Boy in 1903 at the age of 13.

1939 Chicago Board of Trade Messenger Boy Badge

Age: 1939
Stamped Brass Badge
Approx: 1.5" H x 1.25" W
Condition: as pictured