Ash009002 Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 I have found this token a couple years ago and have been in a constant search for and info or others of the sort, I have yet to find anything. I’ve been told civil war era type token and also I’ve been told a scrib from a coal mine in the area possibly. I’m just searching for any insight and even maybe a pricing value. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moxie15 Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 It is a store token given to the customer in change. mMany stores used them as advertizing and to keep a customer coming back as it had value only in Whalen Bros. in Paris Ill.They are not worth much but are interesting and have a history all there own. powermad5000 and EagleRJO 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VKurtB Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 There is a small but very active national club for collectors of such tokens - TAMS - Token and Medal Society. They meet annually at the August ANA show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
powermad5000 Posted December 13, 2023 Share Posted December 13, 2023 (edited) On 12/13/2023 at 12:12 PM, Moxie15 said: It is a store token given to the customer in change. mMany stores used them as advertizing and to keep a customer coming back as it had value only in Whalen Bros. in Paris Ill.They are not worth much but are interesting and have a history all there own. This would be a very early form of todays store card then. I had an issue at Costco recently and was given a Costco card with the cash difference on it. If that is the case with this token, the merchant then gave someone the difference (or a store credit basically) by giving them this token. Interesting then that such practice developed that many years ago. I do have a question then, as I would say those merchant tokens not having any type of value shown on them would be advertising only. Would this token then be some compensation for a store error, or was the merchant giving these out to certain customers gratis in an attempt to get them to come back to the store to buy more stuff, or is that something we just do not know? Edited December 13, 2023 by powermad5000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleRJO Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 I agree with Moxie that it appears to be a store token, and quite a lot of them were issued. I have a few sources to look up tokens and didn't find anything with the info from that side of the token. If you post both sides with some focused images I could see if anything comes up. It may just be a less well known store token with limited info available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Bob Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 Is it blank on the reverse like the 5 cent token? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleRJO Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 On 12/13/2023 at 8:55 PM, Just Bob said: Is it blank on the reverse like the 5 cent token? It just might be, and why the op only posted one side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash009002 Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 Yes it is blank on the other side. The 5 cent one from the pictures I’ve seen appears to be gold or brass? This one seems to be maybe copper. Any idea why they’d make them out of different materials? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ash009002 Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 On 12/13/2023 at 7:55 PM, Just Bob said: Is it blank on the reverse like the 5 cent token? Yes it is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EagleRJO Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 On 12/14/2023 at 12:10 AM, Ash009002 said: The 5 cent one from the pictures I’ve seen appears to be gold or brass? This one seems to be maybe copper. Any idea why they’d make them out of different materials? I found the 5 cent companion to your token (see attached) that was made out of brass, not gold as that would be worth far more than 5 cents. Brass along with copper were the most common metals for store tokens due to availability, cost and ease of striking since they were softer metals. The two companion tokens were likely different shapes and compositions in order to more easily distinguish the denominations. powermad5000 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
