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Found a 1919 Swift & Co. token.:clapping:

E

Eddie in Poulsbo

New member
Got out for a couple of hours yesterday and got a little bit of clad and this neat token. It's made out of aluminum and it was in pretty bad shape. I used a fine wire brush on it and finally got it cleaned up enough to figure out what it was. Swift & Co. was a big beef business that started back in the late 1800's back in Massachusetts. Not sure how these tokens were distributed and if anyone has any ideas please pass it on to me. Thanks for looking and GL & HH to everyone.

Eddie
 
Neat find! I checked my token literature and found this listed in the 1963 text "So-Called Dollars" by Hibler & Kappen (these pieces are also known as H&K pieces). According to this book "These medals obviously were intended to show consumers how Swift spent every dollar of income. At the time of their issue they were presented to visitors at their Union Stock Yards plant, Chicago; also they were available by mail upon request." Yours appears to be the Type III version - 1919 (there were two others issued in 191:geek:. Here's the description (the slash marks a new line of text): A surface is depicted that is divided into two smaller segments. The text is: A Swift Dollar of Sales/Where/ it Goes, for/Live/Stock/84,5% Freight/and Other/Expenses/13% 1.6% Profit/1919 (some of this text is within the individual segments). The other side reads: This Shows/What Becomes of/the Average Dollar/Received by/Swift & Company/from the Sale of Meat/and By Products/84.5 cents is Paid for the/Live Animal/13 Cents for labor/Expenses and Freight/1.6 Cents Remains/with/Swift & Company/ as Profit. These pieces are rated as "rare" with a $35 price (this was considering that the piece was not dug and is in nice condition).
This is a really cool find!
 
Nice old relic....way to go !!
 
figured that if anyone would know about this token that it would be you.:thumbup: I really appreciate all the information you dug up for me on this thing. Too bad it wasn't in better condition, but it was still a neat find and a lot of history to go with it. Thanks again. Oh, do you have any information on Washington state trade tokens? If you do I will post another token that I found and maybe you can give me an idea of what it might be worth. I was offered $125 for it sight unseen a couple of years ago and I'm figuring it's probably worth more then what I was offered. HH.

Eddie
 
Hi Eddie - glad I could help. I do have a book on Washington State trade tokens so maybe I can try to ID the piece you found a while back.
 
Thanks for getting back to me. Here are a couple of pictures of that token I was telling you about. It's from a town in Eastern Washington that was called Moscow. I believe the town was formed in the late 1890's or early 1900's and after a few years the name was changed to Bluestem. The town is history now and only one old house is still standing where the town use to be.The names on the token are Haines & Folsom and I think it might have been from a store or tavern/pool hall that they may have operated, but I'm not sure about that. Thanks again for your help.

Eddie
 
nice find eddie im still snowed in but looking to 40 degree temps coming later this week if only the deep snow will thin out
 
Hi Eddie-

This token is listed in the 1998 text "Washington State Trade Tokens" by Al Erickson. It is the only token listed from this town and is rated R-7 (1-2 known). According to the book: "Moscow was a grain station located 10 miles south of Davenport in eastern Lincoln County. It was platted by Ulysses Sheridan Long in the early 1890s and named after the principal wheat species raised in the area. The town was renamed Bluestem on March 2, 1906.".
I have no idea what its worth is since I don't collect WA tokens. However, being it's from a small town and the only one listed and it is probably pre 1906, I would expect it to carry a premium.

Neat find and HH!
 
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