Please forgive my ignorance, I am not a collector. I was sorting my piles of change laying around the house today and came across something strange. I figured I would come to the experts and see what people had to say. I am guessing this coin is from a coal mining company from WV. How rare are coins like this? Any guesses on how old it might be? I was surprised when I was not able to find any info via google searches. Being born and raised in WV, this is a really cool find regardless! thanks
Well I'm not too sure how you saw it coming from a mining company. I was thinking it's more likely to be from a store.
Mainly because that is how the old mining companies operated. They paid you in "vouchers" that could only be used in mine operated stores and such. I could most definitely be wrong.
It might be although I really have no clue. It's unfortunately a token not a coin, as it's not legal tender other than the company that is issued to. Apologizes for not noticing that you are new, I should have welcomed you instead! Welcome to cointalk!
Thanks for the welcome! I just found a 10 cent piece that is identical to this coin on ebay. It is indeed listed as a coal company coin. These are apparently quite common, as there are several hundred similar pieces listed on there, most going for just a couple bucks.
Pretty neat historical item! "I owe my soul to the company store" Tennessee Ernie Ford's 1950's song "16 Tons".
Welcome to the forum mellon!!! Unfortunately I cant help you with this as I have no knowledge of these things.
Do a forum search on "Hard Times Tokens" and "Civil War Tokens" and you will find lots of interesting discussions of those substitutes for minor coins from two different historical periods. To me the only unusual feature of this one is the value "5" without saying whether it's cents - the more common- or dollars.
Hopefully cwtokenman will stop by and give you some more information. I don't think there are many hard times tokens or civil war storecard tokens from West Virginia, so even if it turns out not to have a large monetary value, it may be quite rare and worth keeping.
I do not think that token is a coal co. token, but rather is a merchant token. My coal company reference lists 7 "Norman" coal co. stores, but none are for an "E.M. Norman". Coal company tokens generally have a different look to them, typically having a hole of some sort in the center. West Virginia is one of the states that I do not have a regular merchant token reference for (not sure one even exists). In doing some research, I could not even find a Shaw, W. Va. listed, perhaps it no longer exists under that name for some reason. If that is the case, finding when the name changed will put a limit on when the token may have been made. Sorry I could not be of more assistance.
Well I can tell you that it can't possibly date earlier than 1863, since that's when West Viriginia became a state. And I found out why it's hard to find anything about Shaw, WV... the town's underwater now... http://www.shawwv.com/plaque100.html Interesting... get the impression it was inhabited at least until about the 1940's or so (there's still a handful of people who can remember living there). Still trying to figure out why the town was abandoned and ended up under a lake... this site is the first reference I've found that even acknowledges Shaw's former existance. eBay has another token, for 10 cents, from the same company and place: http://cgi.ebay.com/WV-Token-10-E-M...temZ300092194076QQcategoryZ3458QQcmdZViewItem (seller thinks it's a coal company token). Plot thickens... apparently where the town stood is now an artifical lake created in 1962... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennings_Randolph_Lake Still haven't found much on the town itself though. Have found that they did have a lumber and mining company there. Anyway that at least narrows the token down to having been made between 1863 and 1962 (realistically prboably not more recent than the 1940's, as it appears the town was abandoned sometime around then). I'm now very interested in trying to find out what happened to Shaw though... but having trouble finding out much about it.
Thank you all for your information and insight! This little token is getting more and more interesting. The shawwv.com had drawings of some of the major businesses that were located there, but E.M. Norman & Co. was missing. I am going to email the administrator of the site and see if they have any information.
Might also be worth asking any other sellers of these tokens if they can shed any light on the provenance of them... hopefully can get some more info about both the tokens and Shaw that way. And I agree with Jerome, the style of the token looks consitent with probably the 1920's or 1930's. Haven't been able to find anything on E. M. Norman & Company yet. Would be my guess the company was probably local, as if it were national it would be easier to find some reference. Just a guess though.
