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Message:: [QUOTE="Clinker, post: 188711, member: 6229"]You know, like tokens, a lot of wooden nickels are given out at taverns, bars, and other alcoholic drink establishments. According to the Numismatist wooden nickels have been around since 1888. The depression years of the thirties saw the most numerous use of wooden nickels. Click here for photos: <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/beer/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/beer/" rel="nofollow">http://www.wooden-nickel.net/beer/</a> Most wooden nickels measure 1 1/2 inches or two inches in diameter and most are two-sided. Wooden nickels up to 3 inches in diameter were used as souvenirs: (from the Wooden Nickel History Museum) "The Century of Progress" in Chicago in 1933 was the first place to use wooden money pieces as souvenirs. Several issues were made - all round. Some are the size of a silver dollar and others are about three inches in diameter. In 1934 a new use for wooden nickels was found - a combination of advertising for civic celebrations and providing souvenirs of the celebration. Binghamton NY was one of first places to embrace this concept. Wood continued to be used to enhance civic celebrations such as centennials through the mid 1930’s and really started to be cranked out in 1938 when the J. R. Rogers Company of Fostoria, Ohio obtained a copyright on their design for wooden money. While the Rogers Company had competition and the competition also issued wooden money, woods produced for Rogers continue to be the most readily found.  Just when the adage "Don’t take any Wooden Nickels!" was added to the American language is unclear, but the reasons are easy to understand. First of all, each wood had an expiration date and generally even a specific final redemption time. If you were in a possession of a handful of wooden nickels that expired at noon today and your best customer came through the door at five minutes to noon, it would be difficult to get to centennial headquarters to cash them in. Many Wooden Nickels also said they had to be unbroken, and the rectangular "Flats" were pretty fragile. Probably the Rogers Company’s use of wooden money should be studied as one of the great marketing schemes of the 20th Century. They had the wooden pieces printed up sometime prior to the actual celebration. They then sold the woods to area merchants for face value and the merchant in turn gave the Wooden Nickels, Wooden Dimes, and Wooden Quarters to their customers in change. The woods usually carried the time, date and place of the celebration. So in effect you had paid to take home an advertisement for the event."  Many coin and exunomia clubs issue free wooden nickels on special occasions such as shows. Some issue wooden nickels yearly on their anniversaries. Many non profit organizations use them for fund raising. <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/scouts/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/scouts/" rel="nofollow">www.wooden-nickel.net/scouts/</a> <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/faire/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/faire/" rel="nofollow">www.wooden-nickel.net/faire/</a> <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/fire/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/fire/" rel="nofollow">www.wooden-nickel.net/fire/</a> <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/mardigras/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/mardigras/" rel="nofollow">www.wooden-nickel.net/mardigras/</a> <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/mason/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/mason/" rel="nofollow">www.wooden-nickel.net/mason/</a> <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/vfw/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/vfw/" rel="nofollow">www.wooden-nickel.net/vfw/</a> "Ripley's Believe it or Not!" featured the World's Largest Wooden Nickelin their newspaper cartoon on November 27, 2002. The Ripley's daily cartoon is published in newspapers all across the world. Guess what? This giant wooden nickel is on permanent display at the Wooden Nickel Museum in San Antonio, Texas. It measures 13 feet 4 inches in diameter, is 4 inches thick and weighs 2,500 pounds. This giant nickel was made by Herb Hornung This huge nickel's reverse side is changed yearly to commemorate a different non profit organization. Here's a link that lets you view the nickels through the years 2002 - 2006: <a href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/wlwn/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.wooden-nickel.net/wlwn/" rel="nofollow">http://www.wooden-nickel.net/wlwn/</a>Some wooden coins are dimes, quarters, fifty cents and other denominations. There's even a Congo 5 Franc piece.  (The following info and link is provided courtesy of Joels Coins) "A native gorilla is featured on the Congo 5 Franc coin and it is made of maple wood. The wooden coin commemorates two topics: First is wild life protection in the Rain Forest. Increased hunting has put Congo's Gorilla population in danger.Second, the unauthorized cutting of trees in the Rain Forest is destroying the natural living area for all forest animals. Thus this unusual coin should remind us to take better care of the resources of planet earth. The reverse of the coin features a standing lion. The coin is 40mm in diameter, has a mintage of only 2000 pieces and is the first national coin ever made out of maple wood". To see the 5 Franc Congo Maple Wood coin click here and scroll down to photo: <a href="http://www.joelscoins.com/oops.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.joelscoins.com/oops.htm" rel="nofollow">www.joelscoins.com/oops.htm</a> Clinker[/QUOTE]

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