Posted 9 years ago
Mercy
(12 items)
Has anyone ever seen or heard of the use of this Token, or is it currecny.
The Home it's self is located in Dodge City, Kansas. I have sent pic and made calls to places in Dodge that should have some idea as to the use of this token. No one in the state has a clue.
The token is 29mm in Dia. , and looks to be of brass. The section below is what leads me to believe it is of the Civil War Era. If anyone has different thoughts about this please leave a comment. Would like to know if it is worth something.
The Civil War Token Society (www.cwtsociety.com), the pre-eminent club for today’s collectors, suggests that to be “officially” considered a Civil War token, a piece must be between 18 and 25 millimeters in diameter. (Most of the copper tokens issued to pass as currency during the war were 18 or 19mm, the size of the federal government’s relatively new Flying Eagle and Indian Head cents, introduced to circulation in 1857 and 1859, respectively.
Most soldier's homes were opened post-civil war, and the Kansas Soldier's home was opened in 1890. So, although Civil War veterans (along with veterans of other wars) lived there, I don't think this could be called a civil war token. Soldiers homes are still in existence.
Tokens were used as money in commissaries and stores operated on the campus of soldier's homes. Their use varied from one state soldier's home to another.
I can only guess that some soldier's homes found it safer to dole out tokens to the disabled and elderly residents than to let them accumulate cash in their rooms.
I'm not saying this is the case with your token, but I happen to sometimes help with bingo games at the local Veteran's Administration Hospital, in their residential wing. We always buy "chits" (coupons) good at the VA commissary store to use as prizes because the hospital frowns on the resident patients having cash in their rooms.
I want to thank you Chrisnp for the comment. I am starting to understand a little more about the token. When I talked to the Home it's self about the token, "they have never seen of heard of such an Item". The Homes history museum has nothing on record of the token. The State historian of Kansas found nothing in his research.
With all the reading I have done, here on the web with articles about the Soldiers Home. Articles that go back to the beginning, including expence reports. As I was reading the report it showed that a local farmer had been paid $3.00 for a wagon load of turnips. And the mans last name was Springer. The report had a date of the late 1800's. Yes i do have family ties to that part of the country, and I am 3rd generation Springer to have this token, am I related to the turnip Springer. I have no idea. The Mystery Continues.