ID Help

[jbnick]

I found this copper "token"...maybe? last fall at a pre 1930s homesite. It has been suggested to me that it may be a coal token but it has no company name and the only writing on it is 18 1/2 T. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks and happy hunting, Josh

 

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[HutSiteDigger]

I have seen Tax Tokens like in this photo below with numbers written on it, but nothing really like the one you have.. Good luck with the ID.

 

[Sentrom]

I don't know the right word for it. But it kind of looks like a pickers token, given to fruit or vegetable pickers. Most often the issuers were ordinary farmers. They were given at the end of a shift for how many bushels they filled or partial bushels. The pickers then turned the tokens in for payment on an agreed payment day.

 

[jbnick]

The fruit pickers token would definitely make sense with the vast amount of orchards throughout the So. Illinois area. I wish I could dig up a name behind it but I probably never will. Any ideas as to what the T may stand for? Thanks for the help! I really appreciate it!
HH Josh

 

[Sentrom]

Just a guess on the 'T'. Maybe a search of the property records might turn up a last name that starts with T. Sometimes these tokens were made by the local machine shop or blacksmith and marked for the farmers who had them made. But it could represent almost anything.