I was recently given a batch of coins from an estate, and one of the items contained with all of the coins was what appears to be a token from a Louisiana election. Of course in Louisiana we don't call them tokens, we call them doubloons. On one side it says "Vote no and keep your dough" and on the other side it says "Other needs are greater." Searching for either sentence on the web returns very few hits (2 on google, zero on bing) and none of them have anything to do with the token. The "vote no" side has a picture of a document with $7.00 written on it. The document has wings and it appears that it's flying up. The "other needs" side has a mother pelican feeding some babies in a nest. I'll post pictures if it helps. The token feels like it is made of aluminum and has a reeded edge. There are no other words on the token other than what I wrote above. It's approximately 4cm across and 4mm thick. So I am wondering if any of you folks can help me identify the item, or suggest some other resources that I might use to try to research anything like age or what election it was related to. Thanks.
Sounds like an anti-tax token. Has Louisiana, or some parish or city, had a ballot proposition to impose a $7 parcel tax? Or perhaps thats a section mark, not a dollar sign. Just thinking out loud. (Maybe you could find out more information at the Louisiana Secretary of State's website.)
I will post a picture (or scan) tonight. I have a good camera, but the first few coin pictures I tried to take were miserable. I'm getting better output from my scanner for the moment. But you don't care about my technical challenges. Bottom line, thanks for your interest, and yes I will have an image (source to be determined) posted later tonight.
I would guess they are anti-tax tokens, or propaganda. They used to be fairly popular, kind of akin to political buttons. I am guessing the $7 has to do with a property tax levy surcharge or something like that. Considering the small amount of what they were fighting about, I would think the dates would be 30's-50's.
I would guess it's some kind of propaganda protesting some proposed tax or fee. Definitely from Louisiana (the pelican is on the state seal and state flag). I would guess the pelican feeding its chicks is suggesting that people would put the money to better use than the government (basically saying people need the money more than the government does). What this specifically refers to, no idea. This kind of political propaganda reminds me a lot of political Hard Times and Civil War tokens. An interesting piece to be sure. Something about the style seems to suggest 1920's to 1930's to me but this is just a semi-educated guess (and it could be from a later time period, just emulating that style).
It almost certainly is from Louisiana. The owner of the estate where this token came from lived her entire life in the Baton Rouge area. As far as dates, I really have no idea, so it certainly could be as old as the 20's or 30's as you're suggesting. It does seem a bit newer in "feel" as I'm holding it, but that's not something you could get from the pictures. I have searched the web using a variety of terms and got no hits. The slogans on either side are a big zero, but I've also searched for things like "Louisiana election token" and other phrases. Oh well, maybe someone else will stumble on the proper keywords for a search. Thanks.
