Exonumia are numismatic items (such as tokens In the study of numismatics, tokens are coin-like objects used instead of coins. The field of tokens is part of exonumia. Tokens are used in place of coins and either have a denomination shown or implied by size, color or shape. "Tokens" are often made of cheaper metals: copper, pewter, aluminium, brass and tin were commonly used, while, medals A medal, or medallion, is generally a circular object that has been sculpted, molded, cast, struck, stamped or some way rendered with an insignia, portrait or other artistic rendering. A medal may be awarded to a person or organization as a form of recognition for athletic, military, scientific, academic or various other achievements. Medals may, or scrip) other than coins and paper money. This includes Good For tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and other similar items. It is related to numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. Lacking a structured monetary (concerned with coins which have been legal tender Legal tender or forced tender is an offered payment that, by law, cannot be refused in settlement of a debt, and have the debt remain in force. Currency is the most common form of legal tender), and many coin collectors are also exonumists.
Besides the above strict definition, others extend it to include non-coins which may or may not be legal tenders such as cheques A cheque or check is a piece of paper (usually) that orders a payment of money. The person writing the cheque, the drawer, usually has a chequing account where their money is deposited. The drawer writes the various details including the money amount, date, and a payee on the cheque, and signs it, ordering their bank, know as the drawee, to pay, credit cards A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services. The issuer of the card grants a line of credit to the consumer from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the and similar paper. These can also be considered notaphily Notaphily is the study of paper money or banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes, paper money, paper currency or plastic notes or scripophily Scripophily is the study and collection of stocks and bonds. A specialized field of numismatics, scripophily is an interesting area of collecting due to both the inherent beauty of some historical documents as well as the interesting historical context of each document. Some stock certificates are excellent examples of engraving. Occasionally, an.
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Etymology
The noun exonumia is derived from two classical roots: exo, meaning "out-of" in Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical ancient Greek literature and the New Testament of, and nummus, meaning "coin" in Latin Latin or sometimes Roman is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Although often considered a dead language, in view of the fact that it has no native speakers, a small number of scholars can fluently speak it and it continues to be taught in schools and universities and has been, and currently is, used in the process of; thus, "out[side]-of-[the category]coins". Usually, the term "exonumia" is applied to these objects in the United States ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language, while the equivalent British British English, or UK English , is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the United Kingdom from forms used elsewhere. The Oxford English Dictionary applies the term to English "as spoken or written in the British Isles; esp[ecially] the forms of English usual in Great Britain...", reserving " term is paranumismatica.
The words exonumist and exonumia were coined in July 1960 by Russell Rulau, a recognized authority and author on the subject, and accepted by Webster's dictionary Webster's Dictionary is the name given to a common type of English language dictionary in the United States. The name is derived from lexicographer Noah Webster and has become a genericized trademark for this type of dictionary in 1965.
Forms of Exonumia: Tokens and Medals
Chronologically, in the United States many Exonumia items were used as currency when actual money was not easily available in the economy. A notable exception to this definition are Medals, which were generally not used as currency or exchange. See the 'for clarification' section below for distinctions between various branches of exonumia. Tokens were used both to advertise and to facilitate commerce.
Token authority Russell Rulau offers a broad definition for exonumia, and lines between categories can be fuzzy. For example, an advertising token may also be considered a medal. Good For tokens may also advertise. Counterstamped coins have been called “little billboards.” Strictly, exonumia is anything not a governmental issue coin. This could almost mean anything coin-like.
The English term "Para-numismatica", or alongside currency, appears more limiting, hinting that tokens must have some sort of “value” or monetary usage. One definition of Para-numismatica is anything coin-like but not a coin. In America this is not the accepted usage. Rulau's 1040 page tome, UNITED STATES TOKENS: 1700-1900 includes many tokens without any monetary value depicted on the token. While he included many items, some types of exonumia were not included just so the book would not get any bigger.
The following groupings of categories are continually expanding. One way of parsing tokens is into these three general categories:
- Has a ‘value,’ facilitating commerce, such as Good For Something.
- Commemoration, remembrance, dedication, or the like, for some person, place, idea or event.
- Of a personal nature.
Typically catalogs of tokens are organized by location, time period and/or type of item. Historically the need for tokens grew out of the need for currency. In America some tokens legally circulated alongside or instead of currency up until recently. Hard Times Tokens and Civil War Tokens each were the size of the contemporary cent. Afterwards, value based items, such as Good For (amount of money), Good For one quart of Milk, Good For one beer, Good For one ride… and others were specifically linked to commerce of the store or place of issue.
For clarity, Exonumia are actual numismatic items, (other than government coins or paper money) which can be studied or collected.
Numismatic = Coins, Paper Money, Exonumia, (Numismatist) Exonumia = Tokens, Medals, Badges, Ribbons, Etc. (Exonumist) Notaphily = Paper Money, (Notaphile/Notaphiliac). Scripophily = Stock certificates, (Scripophilist, Scripophilac) Medals have a clear distinction from tokens in that there is no monetary value on the item, nor any intent to be used as money. (Medalists)
Exonumists are attentive to not only the history behind the items but the shapes, and what types of items they are.
Exonumia that is studied and collected
The following categories of are typical types. This is not all inclusive but is a sampling of the wide variety of Exonumia:
The county of Davidson, North Carolina selling elongated coins commemorating the 150th anniversary of the courthouse- Tokens
Modified /Augmented:
- Love Token: A coin with hand engraving, generally on one side.
- Hobo nickels Indian Head/Buffalo nickel: Engraved by hand mostly in the era 1913-38, usually a modification of the Indian head.
- Carved Potty coins, usually Trade Dollars, to show Liberty on a chamber pot.
- Counterstamped / countermarked coins (done by merchants or governments)
- Elongated coins' Rolled out with advertising on one side.
- Encased Coin: Generally in a ring with advertising.
- Encased Postage: Actual postage stamps mounted into a round frame with advertising on the other side.
Play-Game money / Arcade Amusement / Novelty
- Arcade tokens
- Amusement
- Game Counter
- Play money
- Novelty money
- Peep Show
- Casino/Slot tokens/Casino chips: See Casino token Casino tokens are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. Colored metal or compression molded clay tokens of various denominations are used primarily in table games, as opposed to metal token coins, used primarily in slot machines. Casino tokens are also widely used as play money in casual or tournament games
- Geocaching: Geocoins www.geocaching.com
Government Services & Non-National tools to Facilitate Commerce
- Jeton tokens: Used as counters when verifying totals or weights of coins for commerce and exchange.
- Evasion tokens: 18 Century Counterfeit were made to look like 'kind of' but not exactly like actual currency. (http://www.thecoppercorner.com/history/evasions_hist.html)
- Sales Tax Tokens: Issued by states and merchants.
- Parking Tokens: for meters A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street parking policy, usually related to their traffic and mobility management policies or gates A multi-storey car park is a building (or part thereof) which is designed specifically to be for automobile parking and where there are a number of floors or levels on which parking takes place. It is essentially a stacked car park.
- Dog License Tags
- Post office Tags
- Food Stamps
Transportation Tokens
- Ferries and watercraft
- Buses
- Trains
- Trolleys
Closed Community / Membership
- Company Store A truck system is an arrangement in which employees are paid in commodities or some currency substitute , rather than with standard money. This limits employees' ability to choose how to spend their earnings—generally to the benefit of the employer. As an example, scrip might be usable only for the purchase of goods at a "company store"
- Ingle Credit System script
- Lumber
- Mining
- Plantation
- Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program for unemployed young men age 18-24, providing unskilled manual labor related to the conservation and development of natural resources in rural areas of the United States from 1933 to 1942. As part of the New Deal legislation proposed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR), the CCC (CCC)
- Prison
- College Currency
- Military Challenge
- Military Store and Entertainment
- Picker tokens for crops
- Prison and Correctional/Asylums
- Fraternal
- Masonic Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 in Scotland and Ireland, over a quarter of a million under the Jurisdiction of the United
- Elks
- Moose
- Eagles
- Woodmen of the World
- KKK - Ku Klux Klan Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as The Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present right-wing organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy and nationalism. The current manifestation is splintered into several chapters and is widely considered to be
- Communion Tokens (Given to congregation members in good standing to permit them to participate in Holy Communion.)
Unique material / shapes
- Wooden nickels
- Cardboard or paper
- Hard Rubber or Vulcanite
- Advertising Pocket Mirrors
Movements and ideals
- Temperance A temperance movement is a social movement against the use of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements may criticize excessive alcohol use, promote complete abstinence, or pressure the government to enact anti-alcohol legislation
- Anti-Slavery
- Religious
- World's Fair Universal Exposition or Expo , also known as the World Fair and World's Fair, is the name given to various large public exhibitions held since the mid-19th century. They are the third largest event in the world in terms of economic and cultural impact after the FIFA World Cup and the Olympic Games.[citation needed] They have been organized for
- Locations
- City or State Anniversary
Of a Personal nature - Personals
- Key tags (e.g. In case lost return to …)
- Badges
- Company
- Occupation
- Hand Engraved or uniquely counterstamped coins, as pocket pieces.
- Watch Fobs A pocket watch is a that is made to be carried in a pocket, as opposed to a wristwatch, which is strapped to the wrist. They were the most common type of watch from their development in the 16th century until wristwatches became popular after World War I during which a transitional design, trench watches were used by the military. Pocket watches
- Slave Tags - Slave Hire Badges
By Issuer or for a Specific Person'
- Milk/Dairy
- Beer
- Pub/Bar/Saloon
- Billiards/Pool
- Cigar/Smoke Shops
- Restroom tokens for pay toilet use
- Doctors
- Automobiles
- George Washington George Washington led America's Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and later became the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797. His role in the revolution and subsequent independence and formation of the United States was significant, and he is seen by Americans as the " medals
- Presidents, Governors, other politicians
- Inventors
Modern items under the exonumia umbrella include;
- Credit cards A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services. The issuer of the card grants a line of credit to the consumer from which the user can borrow money for payment to a merchant or as a cash advance to the
- Gift cards A gift card is a restricted monetary equivalent or scrip that is issued by retailers or banks to be used as an alternative to a non-monetary gift. Highly popular, they rank as the second-most given gift by consumers in the United States and the most-wanted gift by women, and the third-most wanted by males. Gift cards have become increasingly: Gift cards have been replacing the giving of cash for events.
- Telephone cards A telephone card, calling card or phone card for short, is a small plastic card, sized and shaped like a credit card, used to pay for telephone services. In most or all cases, having the physical card itself is unnecessary, knowledge of the access telephone number to dial, and the PIN, being sufficient. Standard cards which can be purchased and
- Music cards
Rulau in his 1700-1900 book historically breaks down American tokens into these general time periods:
- Early American
- Hard times tokens were made during the "Hard Times" after President The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is one of only two nationally elected federal officers, the other being the Vice President of the United States Andrew Jackson Andrew Jackson was the seventh President of the United States (1829–1837). He was military governor of pre-admission Florida (1821), commander of the American forces at the Battle of New Orleans (1815), and eponym of the era of Jacksonian democracy. A polarizing figure who dominated American politics in the 1820s and 1830s, his political shut down the Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was chartered in 1816, five years after the First Bank of the United States lost its own charter. The Second Bank of the United States was initially headquartered in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, the same as the First Bank, and had branches throughout the nation. These also were issued privately to circulate in the local economy as a one cent coin. They had a wide variety of subject matter, anti-slavery, anti-Jackson
- Merchant
- Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within a single nation state, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation-state. The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies. It is high-intensity conflict, often
- Trade Tokens
- Gay 90s
Even though the following are legitimate categories for exonumia, they are not included in the 1700-1900 reference.
- Amusement Tokens
- Military
- Prison
- Telephone tokens
- Political Campaign tokens
- Transportation Tokens
- Medals 33mm and larger
- And others
Typical ways exonumists may collect these items are by region, topic, type, shape or material. These different collecting preferences may change the ways tokens are documented. Frequently there are guides for particular states (by Region), but conversely the guide could document National or International amusement tokens (Type)
The general distinction between Tokens from Medals is that medals (both privately minted and minted by governments,) primarily do not have an actual monetary amount or 'value' but generally are a commemoration of people, ideals, or places.
Various organizations exist: TAMS (Token And Medal Society) http://www.tokenandmedal.org/ CWTS (Civil War Token Society) MichTAMS (Michigan Token And Medal Society) An example of an online searchable database for Good For's and other items is "Richard's Token Database": http://tokencatalog.com/ Another helpful site is World Exonumia: http://www.exonumia.com
Other forms in Latin America
Copper trade token of Durfee & Peck, Indian traders on Missouri River in various locations, circa 1869Another important area of token collecting is Latin American coffee or plantation tokens. Many but not all of these tokens were made in the United States while others were made in Europe and England. These tokens are circulated in more than one language although Spanish is the prevalent one. Plantation tokens can have an array of denominations and names. The name can be the owner or their relatives. Sometimes the token can have the name of the farm (or finca). Lastly, tokens had allegorical symbols to identify the owner. Very little documentation exists since the inception of Latin American tokens, therefore, many tokens cannot be verified as to who the real owner is or what the symbol or symbols meant.
Tokens in Latin America Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages (i.e., those derived from Latin) – particularly Spanish, Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,501 km² (7,880,000 sq mi), almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area. As of 2009, its were used as currency since there was not enough official currency available. Customarily, workers could convert the tokens to official currency on Saturdays. It is widely understood that many plantation owners in Latin America had their own commissaries, therefore, the workers were able to use the farm owners tokens to pay for provisions. It is important to note that in the 19th century many of the plantation workers and families lived in the farm they worked on.
Latin American tokens were made in all types of base metals and alloys plus plastic, celluloid and bakelite Bakelite , or polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, is an early plastic. It is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from an elimination reaction of phenol with formaldehyde, usually with a wood flour filler. It was developed in 1907–1909 by Belgian chemist Dr. Leo Baekeland. Unique to Costa Rica were tokens made in paper fashion, either uniface or printed on both sides. Many people call these paper chits. The word "Boleto" is used solely in Costa Rica for the word token whereas "ficha" is used in the rest of Latin America.
See also
- Coin Coins are usually metal or a metallic material and sometimes made of synthetic materials, usually in the shape of a disc, and most often issued by a government. Coins are used as a form of money in transactions of various kinds, from the everyday circulation coins to the storage of large numbers of bullion coins. In the present day, coins and
- Currency In economics, the term currency can refer to a particular currency, for example Pound Sterling, or to the coins and banknotes of a particular currency, which comprise the physical aspects of a nation's money supply. The other part of a nation's money supply consists of money deposited in banks , ownership of which can be transferred by means of
- Numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. While numismatists are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, the discipline also includes the broader study of money and other payment media used to resolve debts and the exchange of goods. Lacking a structured monetary
- Token money
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Exonumia Listed in Hibler Kappen s So Called Dollars book 1963 There are several contemporary pieces commemorating the 1906 earthquake that are companions to this piece Similar size
Melissa
Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:00:06 GM
we just had an earthquake! 4.2 and over almost as soon as it began. still kind of a thrill. very glad it was small. i'm working on a pair of socks for kevin that are made of the most agreeable sock yarn i think i've ever encountered. ...
