Spring 2003 Bottles and Extras22
W. B. Chapman Token Contentinental Token Dr Pepper Token
Collecting Soda Tokensby Michael Greenspan, NGL
I can still remember, as a child in the1940s, that my grandfather owned andoperated an old-fashioned candy store inManhattan. It was a popular gatheringplace that sold newspapers, cigarettes,fountain drinks and ice cream, amongother sundries. There was always a steadystream of customers because the store alsocontained a pay phone booth at a timewhen residential phone service was stillscarce and expensive. Frequently, there was a long queue ofcustomers waiting to use the phone andmany of them ordered an ice cream coneor fountain concoction while they waited.As a youngster, I was posted at the largewindow-counter opening to the street tosell loose cigarettes at two for a penny andfountain drinks, either plain carbonatedwater, (seltzer) for two cents each, orflavored drinks for five. If a customer gave me a dime orquarter, I was instructed to return hischange in the form of aluminum tokens,which could be used for a subsequentpurchase. Over the years, I discovered thatthis was not an unusual practice and thatmany merchants issued tokens for thispurpose. These tokens were later to bereferred to in collecting circles asexonumia. The term, exonumia, was coinedwithin the last few decades by, I believe,Russ Rulau, a noted researcher andauthor of a series of books on tokens andmedals. The term describes a number ofdisparate items that look like and serve as
money, but are not. I collect, among otherexonumia, soda water trade tokens. Thesetrade tokens are usually the size ofnormal coinage, are generally brass oraluminum (although other materials havebeen used), of various shapes, and usuallycarry the words, good for, and a value(a monetary amount or a quantity ofmerchandise) somewhere on the token. Tokens were issued in variousdenominations; most common were 1,5, 10, 25 and 50, but otherdenominations were also used. Tradetokens were issued by a wide variety ofmerchants, including saloons, grocers,blacksmiths, dentists, and, naturally, drugstores, soda fountain operators and sodamanufacturers and distributors, for at leastthree primary reasons. The use of trade tokens has a longhistory going back centuries. In the UnitedStates, trade tokens were first used becauseof a shortage of small currency or coinagein circulation, especially during the HardTimes period of 1828-1844, the Civil Warperiod of 1861-1865, and the 1870-1890period, especially west of the Mississippi.Merchants who received largedenomination coins from their customersfrequently had difficulty making change.Some merchants resorted to complex anderror-prone record keeping, others issuedpaper or cardboard IOUs, some usedpostage stamps and brass-encased postage,while the more entrepreneurial amongthem issued tokens. These tokens could be redeemed at any
time by the customer for cash,merchandise or services. So the firstreason was to alleviate coin shortages. Secondly, trade tokens were issued asadvertising items. Since they included thename (and, frequently, the street addressand/or the city) of the merchant issuingthe token, or the name of the product forsale, tokens were used as premiums tocustomers to encourage repeat business oras gifts to non-customers to encouragetheir initial purchases. The third reason was to increase profit.Copper, brass, and aluminum (after 1890)tokens cost the merchant a tiny fraction ofthe face value of the tokens they used. A50-cent token cost virtually the same toproduce as a one-cent piece. Therefore,issuing tokens to make change netted themerchant a substantial profit, especiallysince large numbers of tokens were neverredeemed. Even if the tokens wereeventually redeemed, the merchants wererecipients of no-cost floats on theirmoney. Among the more prolific issuers weredruggists and, as soda water was first aproduct of the druggist, soda water wasprominently featured as the good foroffered on tokens. For example, during the1850s, a group of four Cincinnatidruggists issued a number of tokens thatwere good for One Glass of Soda or BlueLick Water. Using a common reverse thatlisted all of their names (Chapman,Stevens, Gordon, and Harris), the obversesdiffered only in the name and address of
Spring 2003Bottles and Extras 23
George Washington Token Good for Life Token Kola-Pepsin Token
Moxie Token
Mountain Dew Token
the merchant. These pieces are highlysought by collectors and can bring over$100 each in top condition. Other examples during this period arePrescotts Soda Water (New York),inscribed 20 for a dollar, and KeachSoda (Baltimore). Among the earliesttokens issued were two from the HardTimes Period; R.L. Baker fromCharleston, SC, Good for One Glass;and John L. Chapman, Baltimore, MD,One Soda. The Baker piece is especially rare, andone in extremely fine condition recentlysold for more than $5000. The examplein my collection is well-worn and has ahole in it, but I am glad to have it. Two pieces which do not carry a valueand were probably just advertising hand-outs also share a common device. JohnMatthews who advertised his sodaapparatus, and R. H. Macy (forerunner ofthe large department stores), both of NewYork, issued tokens which depicted acherub warding off a bear from a soda urn.The Macy token is unusual in that it alsocarries the Matthews name. Another unusual and rare token is ahard rubber (or vulcanite) token issued bythe Famous Original Centennial ArcticFountain (St Louis) and was good for OneDrink Soda.
The Gem Chemical Company(Baltimore) was among the first toadvertise a specific product when theyissued a token, Good for One Glass ofKola-Pepsin, 5 at all Soda Fountains.Other early tokens in my collection areseveral Dr. Pepper tokens (Waco andDallas) and, my favorite, the famousMoxie Bottle Wagon token, Good for OneDrink of Moxie. Still other merchantsissued paper or cardboard tokens ortickets. A Coca Cola ticket isdepicted below. For collectors, pre-1940 tokens arethose sought most often. Those issued bymerchants in smaller or less populatedstates, generally, are much more rare andcommand escalated prices. Tokenexamples from Vermont, New Mexico,Rhode Island, and Maine, are far moreexpensive than those from, say, Illinois,Indiana, Nebraska and Ohio. It is not unusual for a Vermont tokenin decent condition to sell for hundreds ofdollars, while a knowledgeable collectormight be able to purchase an attractiveIndiana token for no more than five or tendollars. Of course, there are rare tokensfrom the populated states as well,especially if the merchant was in businessfor only a short period of time. Amongthe thousands in my collection, I have
tokens from 49 states;Hawaii is missing. Ihave been collectingsoda tokens for morethan 30 years andhave never seen orheard of one from theAloha State. Today, the use oftokens has greatlydiminished, but theyare still beingproduced (Mountain
Dew is an example). Generally, they havebeen replaced in commerce by magazineand newspaper coupons, such as, 50 offwhen you purchase two two-liter bottlesof Coca Cola. Paper coupons are muchmore economical to produce but leave alot to be desired by tomorrows sodatoken collectors.
Have a Coke FREE coupon.
Mike Greenspan is a veteran collectorspecializing in soda water and drugstoretokens. He is a Board member of theNational Token Collectors Association andis a past President of the Civil War TokenS o c i e t y .He can be reached at: [email protected],or by phone at (281) 646-1116.
