The Token Gallery
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Here are a few of the various tokens I've found over the years. I've pictured only the more interesting ones, leaving out common pieces like the Palmolive soap tokens.
This Columbian expedition commemorative was made in 1892, the 400th anniversary of his discovery of America. It is slightly larger and thicker than a half dollar. I found it in an old chuch yard out in the county somewhere near Oswego, New York in the 1990s. I finally looked it up in 2023 and found that it is quite valuable! It was actually minted by the US mint in Philadelphia.
This Louisiana Purchase Expedition commemorative was made for the 100th anniversary of the purchase. My guess is that the busts are of the guys responsible for the purchase. I don't recall where I found it. Probably an old church yard. They were my primary targets for years.
The International Harvester Company had this token made in 1931 as a 100th anniversery commemorative of the inventiion of the reaper by Cyrus McCormick. I worked for International in Ft. Wayne, IN from 2002 to 2006. I never thought to show this to anyone there.
This trade token is my favorite token. It was found at an old one room schoolhouse on US 12 somewhere just east of Coldwater, Michigan, and is about the size of a quarter.
These are my oldest tokens, found at the Decatur dig. These types of bar tokens are among the most sought after by collectors. They are slightly smaller than a quarter. I have yet to find a listing for any of these three. The top right one has the intials P. R. in the center of the reverse. The backs of the other two are blank.
Aluminum tokens deteriorate rapidly in the soil in Michigan. Most of the ones I've found are so bad I thought they couldn't possibly be worth keeping, but a token expert showed a great deal of interest in this one. Some tokens of this type were quite scarce, and it's possible that you could find the only known example of some of them. This one was found not too far from Paw Paw, maybe even in the village itself. It was good for a free game, according to the other side.
This is an assortment of trade tokens, amusement tokens, a vending machine 5 cent test piece, and a Missouri tax receipt. I find the latter an interesting concept. I never heard of stamped metal receipts for anything before.
I don't think this really classifies as a trade token. It's more like a sweepstakes token, if there is such a thing. I wonder if I could redeem this one? I gotta get buried somewhere. It was found in a riverside park in Elkhart, IN, I believe, not in Chicago. That's probably why it was never redeemed.
The buggy token was found in an old house yard that sits right on US 12 just east of Union, Michigan. The wear on this token makes me wonder what it's history is. Just carrying it in one's pocket shouldn't cause this kind of wear. It looks like it changed hands many times like a circulating coin, but I can't imagine why. That yard was also the one and only house yard that ever yielded a Barber half for me (1912-S, VG). That was the only old coin in the yard.
This pre-Civil War era token was obviously made for a Douglas supporter in Milwaukee. It is slightly larger than a penny and I don't know if it was used as a coin as the penny sized ones below were during the war. Looked it up in 2023 and found it to be 510AP-4a with rarity R5.
Whoever had this made wasn't fooling around. I think a lot of the Union supporters weren't so much against slavery as they were against the dissolution of the Union. Obviously Civil War era, there is no indication of who had this made. This token is also slightly larger than a penny. Looked it up in 2023 and it appears to be F214/416a.
These were used for coins during the war. Patriotic supporters of the Union had them made to help alleviate the coin shortage. Government resources were so tied up with the war effort that it wasn't able to provide the needed quantities of coins. Although mintages were up drastically during the war, there still weren't enough to meet the demand. The top two are F-1/229. Bottom left is F-15/319a and bottom right is F-42/336a.
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