Collectibles
About company scrip: Many miners were paid in scrip instead of cash by their employers. Scrip refers to coins ("tokens") and paper money that could only be exchanged for merchandise within the company store. [I am sure many of you remember the song 16 Tons with its famous line "I owe my soul to the company store." Whether scrip was good or bad, we'll leave that to the historians and philosophers to decide!]
We get many e-mails from people who have found a scrip coin and want to know its value. We are not experts on coal scrip, but we've noticed that 1 cent, 5 cent and 10 cent scrip typically sells for a few dollars on eBay. The ones that seem to be more valuable are the higher values like $1.00 and $5.00.
Carter Coal and Olga Coal used a bunch of manufacturers to make their scrip. It's possible some scrip is rare and therefore worth more. Quite frankly, we don't have any idea.
If you want to ask an expert, you might want to talk to a scrip dealer. There are lots of them. Just go to Google.com and search for 'coal scrip'.
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Company Scrip Front and back of a brass 5/8" one-cent scrip coin from Olga Coal Comapny.. |
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Company Scrip Front and back of a $1.00 company scrip coin from Olga Coal Company. Front: Olga Coal Company 100 Coalwood, W. Va. Back: Payable in Merchandise Only 100 1948 Orco Patented Not Transferable |
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Company Scrip Front and back of a 5 cent company scrip coin from Olga Coal Company. Front: Olga Coal Company 5 Coalwood, W. Va. Back: Payable in Merchandise Only 5 1948 Orco Patented Not Transferable |
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Company Scrip
Olga Coal Company $5.00 company scrip.
"Olga Coal Company
5.00
Coalwood, W.VA."
Company Scrip
"Consolidated Coal Company
1.00
Coalwood, W.VA."
Company Scrip
Front:
"The Consolidation Coal Co. Incorporated
1 [cent]
Coalwood"
Back
"Payable in cash on pay days when due to employee to whom issued.
In mdse [merchandise] only. Non transf. [transferable]
Ingle-Schierlom Dayton O. [Ohio]
Pat Pend [Patent pending]"
Company Scrip
"Carter Coal Co. inc.
1 [cent]
Coalwood, W.VA."
Company Scrip
"Carter Coal Co. inc.
1 [cent]
Coalwood, W.VA."
Explosive Control Token
Cap Check from Carter Coal Company
Caretta & Coalwood, West Virginia.
McDowell County
May have also been used at Other Carter Operations.
Schenkman Explosive Control Tokens--C65
Scatter Tags
Coal scatter tags were widely used between the 1930s and 1950s to build brand
loyalty among consumers. They were small foil or cardboard disks that were
scattered into railcar or truck shipments of coal. The colorful tags allowed
customers to recognize their favorite coal.