Barrel shaped tokens. Is there a reference book out there?
DNADave
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I’ve been looking at these for a while. They all seem to be from Kentucky but I’m sure there are others. Would anyone happen to know when these were made, is there a book?
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Comments
I have not seen barrel tokens before... but how appropriate for a tavern....Those would be good for the old 5 cent draft beers at the bar... Cheers, RickO
No, there is not a topical catalog on this shape of token nor a catalog on odd shaped tokens. There has been an article or two in the Token And Medal Society Journal on odd shaped tokens illustrating many of them but no catalog as such. The Ohio and Indiana state trade token catalogs list the pieces from each of those states in the general listings. Kentucky is the other main state where odd shaped pieces were used but there is no state catalog for KY. Some can be seen on tokencatalog.
The vast majority of odd shapes were struck for customers in the Ohio River Valley and nearby environs by Wright & Sons, a long time die sinker in Cincinnati. Barrel shaped tokens were struck by others as well but the Wright tokens usually have the barrel staves & details as shown above. Other odd shapes include, horse heads, crowns, acorns, a woman's old style tie up boot, boxing gloves, chickens, various letters of the alphabet and many more. Most were denominated as normal trade tokens -- the many bars of the Northern Kentucky towns across from Cincinnati are especially rich in odd shaped tokens, the barrel shaped & detail being one of the more tame and available shapes.
Thank you Tokenpro !