Prison coins.

On last nights episode of Storage Wars, they found a box of coins given to prisoners in the 1920s. The appraiser said they weren't worth that much. I've never heard of prison coins. Has anybody else heard of them or have any in their collection?

 

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I would assume they were some sort of token for internal use. Here is one from 19th century Germany.

http://www.cngcoins.com/Coin.aspx?CoinID=178197

 

Sounds interesting..

 

I've seen a couple for military prisons.

 

Prison tokens exist. Paul Cunningham wrote a pretty extensive article about them in TAMs a while back.

 

I've seen prison chits. I believe they are still in use. Never seen a metal coin, but then I've never looked. Might be an interesting subject to collect.

 

I recently bought a token from the Marion County Jail here in Indianapolis... If I can find it tomorrow I'll take a pic of it.

 

There are several prisons that have used plastic tokens internally.

 

Huh... and I thought prisons operated on a barter system based on "favors", soup and smack.

 

I collect them and have several reference books on that topic:

1963 War Prisoner Money And Medals, Guido Kisch
1960 Media of Exchange Used In State and Federal Penitentiaries, Jack F. Burns
1992 Prison Tokens and Medals of the United States, Jerry Zara

Most of the ones I've purchased have been in the $3 to $10 range. A box full could have significant value, depending upon the number of tokens, IMO.

 

There are a lot of collectors out there for prison tokens and some command very high prices. I am current working on a supplement to the prison tokens catalog. Anybody out there with unlisted varities please let me know so I can add it to the supplement.

 

I am working on a supplement to Zaras' catalog if you have any info on unlisted tokens to share.

 

I have a few Nevada State Prison Tokens that are unlisted from the late 1800

 

Would love to see images if possible.

 

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Carl. You want to remove your information from the post. It's not a good idea to post it here.

 

We'll be right over with a suitcase full of Benjies.

 

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How do I send them to you, I have picture's on my phone, but I keep them in the bank. Call me.