Prima Brewing Company Token

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by ddddd, Jun 22, 2021.

  1. ddddd

    ddddd Member

    Once in a while I will pick up a token that speaks to me and such was the case here. A poster that goes by "coinsarefun" (great user name!) on the PCGS forums made this token available and I jumped on the opportunity to add it to my collection.


    Prima Beer was a lager brewed in Chicago. One source linked below quotes the start date as 1890 but as can be seen on the token, the date is 1894. Which is correct? I'm not quite sure as of this point.

    Prior to Prohibition, Prima was the largest brewery in Chicago. They continued operations during that period as one of only seven authorized companies; one of their products was a non-alcoholic beverage called "Primalt." By 1941 they merged with Bismarck Brewing. Manhattan Brewing Company of Chicago, which had associations with Al Capone and organized crime, owned stock in the Prima-Bismarck Brewing Company.

    As can be seen on the token, Prima’s slogan was “America’s Finest Beer.” As far as I can tell, Chas. D. Franz was the Prima distributor in Freeport.

    This token is available with multiple different cities and slightly different reverse designs. Besides Freeport (Illinois), I've seen cities in Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Colorado, and Illinois. There is also a version with FDR in place of the woman and "America" in place of a city name.


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    az1.png


    Sources/more info (note: some of the info doesn't quite match):

    https://explore.chicagocollections.org/marcxml/chicagohistory/30/542k345/

    https://www.chicagonow.com/look-back-chicago/2013/04/prima-beer-lingers-on/#image/1

    https://en.numista.com/catalogue/index.php?r=Prima Brewing Company&ct=exonumia
     
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  3. potty dollar 1878

    potty dollar 1878 Well-Known Member

    Cool coin and great read is it just the pictures or from the slab view the reverse looks a little rotated.
     
    ddddd likes this.
  4. ddddd

    ddddd Member

    As far as I can tell, the token is slightly rotated in the slab so the reverse isn't rotated.
     
    Dimedude2 and potty dollar 1878 like this.
  5. SensibleSal66

    SensibleSal66 U.S Casual Collector / Error Collector

    Nice Token and nice piece of history ! ;)
     
    ddddd likes this.
  6. COOPER12

    COOPER12 Well-Known Member

    Very cool
     
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