Thanks Bruce...Not that I pay too much attention to the values Cunningham lists, but I got it for less then the book value. Also, if I can get the dime, the 25¢ would complete the listed series for MO50.
Love to complete sets Jack. There's a few I'm working on but may never get them all. But the fun for me is in the hunt. I'm going to the Baltimore show later this month so maybe I'll have some luck there. Had a chance to visit any local shops yet? Bruce
Tried...one is only on-line and the other had weird hours and when I tried to call no answer. Looks like there's a huge show in London later this year and I intend on being there.
The hunt is where it's at for me too. Only three types of this particular style for this base. I have a blast searching. Finding ones that appeal to me, like this, just make my day.
Update: The seller had another Jefferson Barracks token come up for auction and this time I won it! I won it cheaper than I let the last one go for though I think the last one may have been a bit better. I'm really excited that I've completed this "set" and can't wait for it to get here. I'm posting the seller's photos (he gave permission previously to use his photos of anything for whatever I want), courtesy of sctokens:
Well...I'm a military trade token enthusiast/junkie. I specialize in Air Force issues but when I see an issue that I think is cool I'll add it. In this case, I liked the look of the Jefferson Barracks tokens. In the standard reference, only three denominations are recorded so by getting the 25 cent I was able to complete the "set." Jefferson Barracks is pretty interesting on it's own and was first established in 1826 to be decommissioned in 1946 following the end of WWII. However, the base still supports Army and Air National Guard units in Missouri and the mission of the Air Guard component is pretty interesting.
This is actually kind of hard to answer. Different bases minted their own issues at different times. The ones posted in this thread were for a base in the continental United States so there would be no shipping charges for moving it overseas, and I'm thinking these issues are from the 1930s. I think...and I'm not 100% on this...that these tokens were part of the club system that involved extending lines of credit to the troops between paydays. Overseas issues make sense that they wouldn't want to ship quantities of coins overseas and in fact, that is what the US was doing in 2001-present in the Middle East, but if that's what happened I don't really know. I do know that on base a variety of currency and coinage was used and circulating at the same time. For example, you could go to the club and buy a burger for $1.50 and hand the clerk a $5 bill. In change you could receive dollars, US coins, or tokens, or a mixture. I'm hoping Ray Bows book will shed a little more light on their actual use.
Love the tokens Jack, and congratulations on completing your set. BTW, do you know if Ray's book is ready for publication yet? Haven't spoken to him recently, but thought you might have. Bruce
No, I've actually never emailed him...figured I ought to read his book before I start asking asinine questions But I should be reading his book after tomorrow, I've got a good feeling that's what I got for Christmas.
It's China Manchukuo 1933 1 fen. Try and look for one in any condition. You might be able to find in your dealer's junk coin lot as this is quite underrated. This was surprisingly difficult despite the low catalog value. In fact when another one was sold, this time a VF+ example was sold for more than 80 dollars from memory. A MS63 was sold for more than 1000+ dollars, again significantly higher than suggested catalog value. In fact, try and assemble the entire Manchukuo coins if you are adventurous enough - there's only 50 coins to collect! Another tough coin was the Korean 1910 1/2 chon. Rare in any condition, I was hunting for low grade / damaged coin to fill a hole in my collection. Thankfully I didn't need to do that as I found both coins. As what is my next coin that I am looking for, I'm probably going to look for a genuine Manchukuo 1939 5 li. Mine happened to be a fake unfortunately.
