Well flicker is back couple hours off line for upgrades turned into a day and a half! Here is the other version of the wooden nickle. At one time the city was known as the city of roses, due to the fact that there were a number of very large green houses and they supplied the florist trade with roses. Now they are subdivisions and vacant lots. Historically, Mount Clemens' largest industry for more than 100 years, from 1873 to 1974, was tourism related to the mineral baths, drawn from springs that were scattered throughout the city. Such mineral baths were very popular and were tourist destinations. At the peak of the industry, the city had 11 bathhouses and several hotels related to this trade. The first bathhouse was built in 1873 and was known as "The Original"; it was located on the corner of Jones and Water streets. The bathhouse burned in 1883 but it was rebuilt even larger the following year to accommodate the crowds of customers. Due to the smell of the mineral water you could smell the town before your ever made it there
Back in my antique mall dealer days, I had my own custom wooden nickels (and later, dollars). Some of the latter might still be floating around somewhere. Want one? PM your address and I'll see if I can find one for you.
I posted this here back when I acquired it in a 2017 swap, but since someone just asked what it was on my gallery post, I'll add that information here. It is a merchant token, struck around 1902, in imitation of the earlier, large cent sized "Hard Times Tokens" of the 1830s. The "1837" date in this particular instance refers to the founding date of the C.D. Peacock Jewelers firm, which would have been celebrating its 75th anniversary at the time. I suspect the resemblance to a Hard Times token was deliberate. The "Time Is Money" legend was likely chosen because they sold watches and clocks. They still do, to this day. Because of their size and the date on them, these Peacocks are catalogued with the Hard Times Tokens, which peaked around 1837, though they're actually a much later issue. United States: copper "Hard Times" token; C.D. Peacock Jeweler, Chicago, "1837" (struck ca. 1902) PCGS MS63 BN; population 1 - the only example certified by PCGS as of 5/20/2019. Check out the beautiful brass doors in their store, which likely date to the turn of the last century, like my token does.
I know this isn't exonuma, but I've seen quite a few other posts with real interesting pix of other than exonumia, so I thought I'd offer this one up for viewing. I'm quite sure there'll be a mix of lovers and haters of this one for obvious reasons. This is an aluminum identification marker for a piece of I-beam steel in the construction of the new (2009) NY Yankees stadium. A good friend of mine was a union electrician on the job. He surprised me with this little gift.
Well, I've been living in my house for two years now and have finally gotten to taking some more pictures!!! Too long! Here are a few from tonight. I'm not pleased with the color but it's close. The above token from Laon, France is dark green. The Wheelus AB token came out pretty good.
Here's an 'OPA blue point' I received from my grandmother. She also gave me an 'OPA red point' I have somewhere but can't locate at the moment. These were issued during WW2 for rationing meat and dairy.