Token help please.

tlhoy

Anyone know anything about this one?
Thanks,
Glenn

coppercoins

Looks to me like a piece of coal scrip. These were given out in lieu of real money in coal mining towns to keep the business in the coal mining towns - hence the title of the old song, "I Owe My Soul to the Company Store" Dunno how much they are worth, should be listed in Rulau somewhere. I sold one of these found in a roll of wheats a couple of years ago at eBay auction for almost $40. Blew my socks off.

dorkkarl

hey coppercoins, that's "sixteen tons", tennesee ernie ford i believe?

K S

291fifth

Your best bet on this type of thing is to put it up on eBay and let it bring what it brings. Many times you will be pleasantly surprised.

Conder101

No that's not coal or lumber scrip. It's simply a merchants good for token. Merchant tokens of that type weren't too unusual during the 1870's to shortly after the turn of the century. They were especially prevalent during period of coin shortages. Merchants would use them to make change. They had the advantage of only being redeemable at the establishments place of business so they encouraged repeat business. And since the tokens cost less than their face value to produce, any that were not redeemed resulted in an unearned profit to the business as well.

I would be surprised if this one is not listed in Russell Rulleu (sp) book on tokens or in a book on WV tokens. Unlike many Good For tokens , this one gives both the proprietors name, location, and type of business. Many tokens of this type only list one of these three things which makes them very hard to trace.

Draco

I don't see it listed in Rulau's 3rd edition of US Tokens. From the design, I have my money on it being a late 1890's token.

Draco

Yea, I'd bet on it. Chi-100 (1896) very closely matches the obverse die design.

cladking

Wholesale on good-fors with city and state is $2. Older ones are a little more likely to
be scarce so will often auction for ten to twenty dollars. Rare ones will not often bring
over $100 unless they're specific types of businesses (like saloons) or from popular
states to collect.

coppercoins

DorkKarl - Yup, that would be it. I didn't mean to say "title", I meant "lyrics".

Conder - Thanks for the lesson. I tried, you gotta give me credit for trying