Mining script

[Brotherman]

I’m an artist and I work out of an art gallery and framing shop that my sister

owns. The other day a customer brought in a frame with some mining -script.

The glass was broken so it was a quick fix but I was able to snap a couple

of photos that I wanted to share.

 

 

The customer (a friend of my sister’s) noticed my interest and said she

would bring me a “handful” of -script. I'll post some photos when I get them.

 

Does anyone collect this stuff?

 

Hays

[HaydenTubbs]

I don't,but I understand that scrip is an up and coming area of collecting.

[TomB]

There is a member of the PCGS boards who specializes in WV coal scrip, though I do not recall his user name.

[Brotherman]

So people do collect it then?

 

Is it "-script" or "scrip"? People pronounce it -script around here...

but they are hillbillies and pronounce a lot of words weird.

 

Hays

[MAULEMALL]

I Redid a rubber roof in Wise Va. An extension to a Food Lion Grocery .....Most depressing place I have ever been.

Middle of winter and we watched in horrer as a wall of snow came in thru the mountains.....I hadn't been that cold since I was on Fuji...I was under the impression that Country folk were a Hospitable bunch.....Not In Wise Va......When I got home my buddy asked me how it went...I told him that Hell dosn't scare me anymore.I have been Married and I have been to Wise Va.....

 

We left the afternoon it started and drove back to Richmond,We couldn't get back to finish the job for 3 weeks for the snow.

 

 

We need a Shudder Gremlin.

[MAULEMALL]

So people do collect it then?

 

Is it "-script" or "scrip"? People pronounce it -script around here...

but they are hillbillies and pronounce a lot of words weird.

 

Hays

My daughters Great grandfather worked the mines in WVa.He succombed to black lung 9 months ago.

He was a short gentleman.But Back in the day,He was the bull of the woods.

He would load (shovle) coal into cars all day.

No breaks.

When I met him 4 years ago I jokingly refered to 16 tons...He looked at me and gave me a sly little grin and said "That's a pretty good Mornin".

 

He asked me if I ever served my Country and I said I did, That I was in the Marines...He smiled big at me, grabbed me by the shoulder (and I am gonna tell you, That 90 year old man had a grip) And took me over into a corner and we talked about him also being a Marine during the World War 2.

We were Laughing and getting on and I was telling him about my father serving then and about my uncle Woodrow dieing on Iwo Jima and what he did and before I knew it 3 or 4 hours had gone by.

When we got back to the Motel that night His son asked me what we were gettin on about as he had never seen his Dad get on with someone like that.

I told him a couple things his dad had said and he looked at me like I was nuts.

He didn't have a clue about his Dad.

That old Man was as straight a gentleman as you could ever meet.

[Brotherman]

I Redid a rubber roof in Wise Va. An extension to a Food Lion Grocery .....Most depressing place I have ever been.

Middle of winter and we watched in horrer as a wall of snow came in thru the mountains.....I hadn't been that cold since I was on Fuji...I was under the impression that Country folk were a Hospitable bunch.....Not In Wise Va......When I got home my buddy asked me how it went...I told him that Hell dosn't scare me anymore.I have been Married and I have been to Wise Va.....

 

We left the afternoon it started and drove back to Richmond,We couldn't get back to finish the job for 3 weeks for the snow.

 

 

We need a Shudder Gremlin.

 

Ha-ha - Wise, Va is about 25 minutes from where I live. Trust me it is a

sprawling metropolis compared to the backwards little burg I find myself

in.

I’m in a dry county, the town is the county seat yet it has only 1,200 people

living here - we don’t even have a movie theater! AND let me tell you Appalachia

is NOT known for it’s hospitality - the rest of the south yes, but not these

mountain folk. This is the place (and I’m not kidding) where the infamous

Hatfield and McCoy feud took place! The McCoy home place is about 8

miles from where I sit.

I’m originally from Lexington, KY this place may not be the end of the earth,

but you sure can see it from here!

Que “Dueling Banjos”…

 

Hays

[MunkyMan95]

So people do collect it then?

 

Is it "-script" or "scrip"? People pronounce it -script around here...

but they are hillbillies and pronounce a lot of words weird.

 

Hays

 

I resent that...

[MAULEMALL]

I Redid a rubber roof in Wise Va. An extension to a Food Lion Grocery .....Most depressing place I have ever been.

Middle of winter and we watched in horrer as a wall of snow came in thru the mountains.....I hadn't been that cold since I was on Fuji...I was under the impression that Country folk were a Hospitable bunch.....Not In Wise Va......When I got home my buddy asked me how it went...I told him that Hell dosn't scare me anymore.I have been Married and I have been to Wise Va.....

 

We left the afternoon it started and drove back to Richmond,We couldn't get back to finish the job for 3 weeks for the snow.

 

 

We need a Shudder Gremlin.

 

Ha-ha - Wise, Va is about 25 minutes from where I live. Trust me it is a

sprawling metropolis compared to the backwards little burg I find myself

in.

I’m in a dry county, the town is the county seat yet it has only 1,200 people

living here - we don’t even have a movie theater! AND let me tell you Appalachia

is NOT known for it’s hospitality - the rest of the south yes, but not these

mountain folk. This is the place (and I’m not kidding) where the infamous

Hatfield and McCoy feud took place! The McCoy home place is about 8

miles from where I sit.

I’m originally from Lexington, KY this place may not be the end of the earth,

but you sure can see it from here!

Que “Dueling Banjos”…

 

Hays

You Sir ,Have My Deepest sympathy

[Brotherman]

I Redid a rubber roof in Wise Va. An extension to a Food Lion Grocery .....Most depressing place I have ever been.

Middle of winter and we watched in horrer as a wall of snow came in thru the mountains.....I hadn't been that cold since I was on Fuji...I was under the impression that Country folk were a Hospitable bunch.....Not In Wise Va......When I got home my buddy asked me how it went...I told him that Hell dosn't scare me anymore.I have been Married and I have been to Wise Va.....

 

We left the afternoon it started and drove back to Richmond,We couldn't get back to finish the job for 3 weeks for the snow.

 

 

We need a Shudder Gremlin.

 

Ha-ha - Wise, Va is about 25 minutes from where I live. Trust me it is a

sprawling metropolis compared to the backwards little burg I find myself

in.

I’m in a dry county, the town is the county seat yet it has only 1,200 people

living here - we don’t even have a movie theater! AND let me tell you Appalachia

is NOT known for it’s hospitality - the rest of the south yes, but not these

mountain folk. This is the place (and I’m not kidding) where the infamous

Hatfield and McCoy feud took place! The McCoy home place is about 8

miles from where I sit.

I’m originally from Lexington, KY this place may not be the end of the earth,

but you sure can see it from here!

Que “Dueling Banjos”…

 

Hays

You Sir ,Have My Deepest sympathy

 

 

Hays

[Brotherman]

So people do collect it then?

 

Is it "-script" or "scrip"? People pronounce it -script around here...

but they are hillbillies and pronounce a lot of words weird.

 

Hays

 

I resent that...

 

Are you from Appalachia Chad?

If so, I do not mean to offend - but you all DO talk funny!

 

Hays

[MunkyMan95]

Appalachia is very near to my heart. We can talk funny sometimes, especially when we say 'Iridescent.' Get a good hillbilly to say that, and you're as good as dead! From laughing, that is.

[Brotherman]

Appalachia is very near to my heart. We can talk funny sometimes, especially when we say 'Iridescent.' Get a good hillbilly to say that, and you're as good as dead! From laughing, that is.

 

I will try this tomorrow... oh wait, I'll see my nephew tonight. I'll get him to say it

 

Hays

[Jwillie33-migration]

I would be very interested in finding out more about mining -script, since I am a retired Coal Mining Engineer. One company I worked for in Western Pennsylvania had been operating since the late 1800's, still had its own company store (in the late 1970's), and had just replaced its -script earlier that decade. What a history they had. I did some research on them at the time and it was fascinating.

 

Please let me know if anyone has a website for the -script and company history. Thanks.

[Brotherman]

I would be very interested in finding out more about mining -script, since I am a retired Coal Mining Engineer. One company I worked for in Western Pennsylvania had been operating since the late 1800's, still had its own company store (in the late 1970's), and had just replaced its -script earlier that decade. What a history they had. I did some research on them at the time and it was fascinating.

 

Please let me know if anyone has a website for the -script and company history. Thanks.

 

Jwillie33 first off - welcome!

 

I’m afraid I don’t know the history, or where to look on the web - but I will

ask around here for you. We might come up with something.

 

I don’t mean to spam you right off the bat, but I do think you might be interested

in this: Click on OMNI Gallery this link

will take you to our website. It is an art gallery and we have some coal

mining prints that you might like.

Choose either Brett Johnson or Rabbit Halcomb. For some reason the

thumbnails aren’t loading for me - but if you click on them anyway it does show

a larger picture of each print. Brett Johnson did a series of 6 prints that depict

the life of a coal miner from years ago. Rabbit Halcomb has 2 prints that

shows all the gear coal miners took with them - interesting stuff. No

obligation - just thought you might not know prints like this exist.

 

Hays

[cpm9ball]

So people do collect it then?

 

Is it "-script" or "scrip"? People pronounce it -script around here...

but they are hillbillies and pronounce a lot of words weird.

 

Hays

 

Hays, -script is text or writing, and scrip is a substitute for currency.

 

My Dad's parents came here from Czechoslovakia at the turn of the 20th century. Their passage was paid for by one of the "Money Barons". They were processed through Immigration at Ellis Island in New York, and as was typical of that era, the "Money Barons" put them and many others on trains for their final destinations. Some of the people were told to get off and become workers in the oil fields of Pennsylvania while others continued their journey to become workers in the coal mines. These people were worked very hard for long hours. They lived in "Company-owned" homes (mostly shanties) and were paid in scrip which could only be used at the "Company-owned" store. My grandmother used to bootleg whiskey to earn real money.

 

Chris

[cladking]

That looks like a tool tag in the center of the photo. These are great fun to collect too but usually are very difficult to identify. These you can pick up cheap. In fact, these seem to survive better than many tokens for some reason and you can pick up boxes of them for a few dollars.

 

Tool tags had various uses. Often they were issued to keep track of who had what tools and often just as an identifier on specific tools.