While away for a few days the wife drug me through a few antique shops and in one I found a bag full of mostly Utah emergency relief tokens and a few odds and ends. The owner just wanted to get rid of them, so for $5 I got about 50 tokens. One of them was strangely familiar, but I couldn't find any information on it anywhere. There are crummy pics posted below. One side says "Libya 1980/in Jimmy we trust" around the border and the center has "Billygoat Silver Dollar". The other side says "220000 Fine". I know I've heard of these tokens before, I just can't remember where or the facts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sounds familiar. When they say "In Jimmy We Trust", I think they're referring to the President Jimmy Carter era. Maybe it's making fun of him when they say Billygoat Dollar, since some say that he was one of the worst Presidents of all time. I don't know. You might want to look it up online.
It's refers to the Billygate scandal, Pres. Carter and Libya. The $220,000 was loan money accepted from a terrorist organization. The phrase also appears in this article from New York magazine: The Democratic Convention: In Jimmy We Trust [Google Books link]
No. I don't know much about the token itself. I knew just enough about Billygate to find the sources for reference to help a little in that department. I do remember we had Billy Beer around the house back then, never drank any. It was promoted by Jimmy's brother Billy. People collected the cans.
As you probably know the Jimmy is Jimmy Carter who was President in 1980. During the months leading up to the 1980 election (which Carter lost to Reagan) the President's brother Billy Carter (remember Billy Beer?) was involved in a mini-scancal concerning his relations with Libya.
Thanks guys! It's probably not worth a thing as a token, but the history it represents is interesting. I'll have to dig a bit deeper now that I know the source. Always something to learn around here. Guy~
