New Hope Plantation Tokens?

Lith

I'm struggling to get any information on these, could they be plantation tokens from the New Hope Plantation in Florida? The one on the left has New Hope Plantation on it, I found plenty of information on New Hope, absolutely steeped in history, but are these linked as the frame might suggest?

Lith

The correct name for the one on the left seems to be New hope plantation ascension store trade token 70c from Louisiana.

lilolme

Those images are tough to see clearly. I did a search on New Hope at token catalog. Here is the link that has some tokens with the description you provided. Might give these a look and they are down the page a little. I don't know anything more.

http://tokencatalog.com/display_records.php?SearchStringEveryWord=New+Hope&SubmitFilter=SearchUSA&action=DisplayRecords&ta_country=U.S.A.&td_state=&td_city=&SearchString=&SearchStringAnyWord=&HomePageSearch=&view=All+Listings

Lith

Thanks yes, Its on there, I think its 2 of the same token, 70 cent is an odd denomination.

Lith

But im surprised it does not give more information, like years they were in use. I'm guessing pre 1865, but who knows.

DCW

@Lith said:
But im surprised it does not give more information, like years they were in use. I'm guessing pre 1865, but who knows.

The style of that token is clearly post Civil War and most likely circa WWI

Lith

@DCW said:

@Lith said:
But im surprised it does not give more information, like years they were in use. I'm guessing pre 1865, but who knows.

The style of that token is clearly post Civil War and most likely circa WWI

I was thinking before slavery was abolished, I wonder what 70c could buy back then as well? assuming that it was kind of wages for slaves if there even was such a thing.

jmlanzaf

@Lith said:

@DCW said:

@Lith said:
But im surprised it does not give more information, like years they were in use. I'm guessing pre 1865, but who knows.

The style of that token is clearly post Civil War and most likely circa WWI

I was thinking before slavery was abolished, I wonder what 70c could buy back then as well? assuming that it was kind of wages for slaves if there even was such a thing.

As you've already been told, the style suggests 20th century not mid 19th.

Edited to add: such tokens were associated with share-cropping not slavery. Slaves had little money.

DCW

@Lith said:

@DCW said:

@Lith said:
But im surprised it does not give more information, like years they were in use. I'm guessing pre 1865, but who knows.

The style of that token is clearly post Civil War and most likely circa WWI

I was thinking before slavery was abolished, I wonder what 70c could buy back then as well? assuming that it was kind of wages for slaves if there even was such a thing.

Plantations had an obvious connotation to slavery, but the word did continue to mean farmland for some time thereafter.

Probably not so common these days.

tokenpro

As the tokencatalog listing indicates, the tokens are from McCall, Louisiana and are listed as LA 5656B-35 in the Crawford & Farber catalog of Louisiana trade tokens and are very scarce. The Ascension Plantation and the nearby New Hope Plantation were cultivated by Miles Planting & Manufacturing Company from the early 1890's to 1908. McCall is located four miles northwest of Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish. The style is classic 1880's - 1890's Louisiana struck in New Orleans and other similar 35c and 70c tokens are known.

The word plantation on Southern denominated trade tokens has virtually nothing to do with slavery as 99%+ were issued well after the Civil War with wide usage starting in the 1880s. Sharecroppers and poor workers that were constantly in debt to the plantation store, yes, but actual slavery no. The large majority of tokens with plantation on them are from Mississippi and especially Louisiana with only a few from surrounding states. I have detailed cotton and sugar production records from Louisiana starting in the 1870's which list plantations and production but even with those detailed records available there are still a number of maverick plantation tokens that have yet to be identified.

Lith

@tokenpro said:
As the tokencatalog listing indicates, the tokens are from McCall, Louisiana and are listed as LA 5656B-35 in the Crawford & Farber catalog of Louisiana trade tokens and are very scarce. The Ascension Plantation and the nearby New Hope Plantation were cultivated by Miles Planting & Manufacturing Company from the early 1890's to 1908. McCall is located four miles northwest of Donaldsonville in Ascension Parish. The style is classic 1880's - 1890's Louisiana struck in New Orleans and other similar 35c and 70c tokens are known.

The word plantation on Southern denominated trade tokens has virtually nothing to do with slavery as 99%+ were issued well after the Civil War with wide usage starting in the 1880s. Sharecroppers and poor workers that were constantly in debt to the plantation store, yes, but actual slavery no. The large majority of tokens with plantation on them are from Mississippi and especially Louisiana with only a few from surrounding states. I have detailed cotton and sugar production records from Louisiana starting in the 1870's which list plantations and production but even with those detailed records available there are still a number of maverick plantation tokens that have yet to be identified.

Thank you for the more accurate and detailed information. The associated picture does appear to show sugar cane harvesting, and assumed refining processes. And although a novice like myself could see the image as slaves working the land its just as easy to see just workers collecting sugar cane.

I'm quite pleased that the Items are considered very scarce, although its not something I collect, they have an interesting story to tell. And I'm pretty sure someone else would like to own them your side of the pond.

tokenpro

Yours are probably two of the same token but the token on the right could bee a 35 denomination if turned over. Those are the two denoms listed for New Hope Plantation and both are R-10 in the catalog (but I have handled both denominations in the past). They are very scarce; note that the New Hope tokens are octagonal. There were probably other denominations made that are currently undiscovered.

There is a companion merchant from McCall as well. This piece has the same Good For Merchandise At Ascension Store obverse but has Ascension Plantation (denom) on the reverse in place of New Hope. This merchant has 5c - 10 - 70 denominations known (and probably others made) that are equally as scarce as the New Hope pieces. The Ascension tokens are round which makes sense for accounting and sorting as both plantations used the same general store. These are the only two merchants known from the shrinking hamlet of McCall which had 700 people at the turn of the century but only 50 by 1940. (re: Crawford & Farber)

Lith

Thanks and I learnt a little more:

Non-Cash Transactions in Louisiana Cotton Plantations, 1865-1908

During the late nineteenth century, Louisiana cotton plantations like Lakeview and Theoda employed two distinct forms of non-cash payments: one associated with sharecropping arrangements and the other involving token money, which could only be exchanged at the company store. These unconventional payment methods appear to support the notion that the economic and social development of the American South lagged behind that of the Northern states following the conclusion of the American Civil War. The Southern region's heavy reliance on a single-crop economy, the prevalence of sharecropping, and the restricted use of token currency have all been linked to the stunted growth of Southern agriculture, sometimes even likened to a form of 're-enslavement'.