5-cent buon-per; Pickering Lumber Company

[villa66]

 

Un 5-cent buon-per da W.R. Pickering Lumber Company, ho coniato circa 1913 pensare, per uso nell'negozio aziendale, e altrove nella società cittadina di Haslam, Texas.

 

La data di brevetto su questo token bimetallico è luglio 1899, ma la città di Haslam—che prende il nome dal direttore generale di Pickering Lumber, Will Haslam—è stato costruito dalla società a partire dal 1913 e ha relativo alberino-ufficio nel 1914, quindi immagino che questa città-monetazione è iniziata circa lo stesso tempo.

 

Pickering legname venduto suo funzionamento Haslam in ‘31, ma la città ha continuato ad aggiungere i residenti fino a circa 1950 quando esso, fino a 300, piu o meno. Commercio del legname locale ha entrato nel declino rapido subito dopo, però. Haslam ha perso il relativo alberino-ufficio nel 1954 e nel 1966 la sua popolazione era scesa a circa 40. Solo l'apertura del bacino di Toledo Bend nelle vicinanze di Haslam negli anni sessanta-salvato Haslam da una discesa in stato permanente di città fantasma—la sua popolazione è più che raddoppiato da allora.

 

La foresta di vecchio-sviluppo alla portata di lame per seghe di Haslam è ora una cosa del passato, e così è quel negozio di azienda del Texas orientale, ma questo regalino è ancora qui per chiamare quelle predazioni doppia alla mente.

 

 v.

 

------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

A 5-cent good-for from the W.R. Pickering Lumber Company, coined about 1913 I think, for use in the company store, and elsewhere in the company town of Haslam, Texas.

 

The patent date on this bimetallic token is July 1899, but the town of Haslam—which gets its name from general manager of Pickering Lumber, Will Haslam—was built by the company beginning in 1913 and got its post office in 1914, so I figure this town-coinage got its start about the same time.

 

Pickering Lumber sold its Haslam operation in ’31, but the town continued to add residents until about 1950 when it topped out at 300, give or take. The local lumber business went into rapid decline soon after, though. Haslam lost its post office in 1954 and by 1966 its population was down to about 40. Only the opening of the nearby Toledo Bend Reservoir in the late-1960s saved Haslam from a descent into permanent ghost-town status—its population has more than doubled since then.

 

The old-growth forest within reach of Haslam’s saw blades is now a thing of the past, and so is that East Texas company store, but this little token is still here to call those twin predations to mind.

 

 v.

[apollonia]

Very nice and rather unusual this bimetallic token for merchandise, I think.

 

[villa66]

It is an oddity. (It surprised me to find it.) I think I'll try to chase down the patent.

 

v.

[apollonia]

This is a 50-cent good-for from the same Company:

I think the brown metal represents the bark and the white metal, the interior part of a tree.

[villa66]

Here’s a P.S. to the above, about the coiner of this piece.

 

Chicago firm S. D. Childs and Company (1837-1938) used Patent 632,938 (granted to its employee George G. Greenburg on 12 Sep 1899), “Art of making bimetallic coins or checks.”

 

(“Checks” as used here is rather outdated; here it denotes “tokens” rather than today’s more usual “bank drafts.”)

 

There are theories—but apparently no settled answer—about why Childs’ tokens bear a patent date of July 1899 when the patent—which was applied for in January 1899—wasn’t granted until September.

 

One other practical note about why these bimetallic tokens were relatively uncommon…they were expensive. I’ve seen mention of the comparative prices in a manufacturer’s catalog from 1930…5-cent tokens, per 100, bimetallic: $8.20; brass: $3.70; aluminum $3.40.

 

And when one of the big attractions of a 5-cent token to a merchant is that the person receiving it in change might not come back to redeem it, it’s no good for it to have cost the merchant 8.2 cents.

 

v.

[apollonia]

An elongated bimetallic token of the WEST LUMBER CO. MILDVID. TEX. with the same patent date.

  

West Lumber Company, also sometimes identified as South Texas Lumber Company, another J. M. West lumber company. Union Lumber Company sawmill site, purchased from Miller-Vidor Lumber Company in 1913. Sold to West Lumber Company in 1915.

From https://www.treetexas.com/research/sawmill/?action=view&cid=1133