Tax Token Info

I posted the photo of the tax token on a forum I read and a fellow member pointed me in the direction of a website where I've snagged the following information:

Immediately following the great depression, income taxes plummeted and property tax defaults increased to the point at which governments were faced with severe economic restraints. In order to generate revenue, sales taxes were debated in both state and national governments. The state of West Virginia was the first American state to enact a sales tax law in 1921,followed by Georgia in 1929. By 1940 over thirty states were using sales tax as a temporary means of increasing state coffers. In spite of promises of a temporary measure, the sales tax is here to stay. How long before we also pay a federal sales tax, in addition to state and local sales taxes?

During the great depression a penny was still a coin of value. The states in their rush to embrace sales taxes , did not immediately provide a means of collection. Merchants were left on their own ,but the tax had to be collected. Many people resented the fact that even on a small purchase a sales tax had to be paid. The problem was especially bad for five and dime stores which were popular during and after the great depression. Several different methods of collecting the onerous sales taxes were tried. The public demanded a way of making change for the cent in order to pay the sales tax on a small purchase. Punch cards, chits, and tokens were the final solution, attempted in the beginning by local merchants, and soon followed by twelve states that issued tokens. By making change for a cent a customer need pay only his fair share of the unpopular sales tax on small purchases. Kewanee, Illinois businessmen have the distinction of producing the first sales tax tokens. The cardboard or metal tokens were usually of one-fourth cent denominations and used to collect the 3% sales tax then in effect. Dozens of individual merchants and small towns quickly manufactured these tokens. Meanwhile federal government authorities charged that issuance of fractional cent tokens was an illegal coinage of money, forbidden under federal laws. This argument continued until 1935.In July of that year President Roosevelt ordered the Treasury Secretary to appear before congress. Henry Morgenthau Jr. proposed the issuance of one and one half mill coins. The proposal promptly failed and the legality of tokens was never fully resolved.

Sales tax tokens were made from, aluminum, brass, copper, cardboard, pressed paper, pressed cotton lint fiber, plastic and zinc. There are many sizes and shapes, and a few attempts at artistic design. A number of sales tax tokens have center holes of various sizes and shapes. Triangular, square and star shaped center hole punches are found in addition to simple round holes. The variation in shape, size, color, denominations, local issues, and state productions added to composition ensure an almost endless opportunity to collectors. Sales taxes are and were traditionally, a hot political issue. The politics of taxation has divided nations for millenia. Pinbacks, wooden nickels, cards, stickers and even grafitti on tokens themselves are also highly collectable items. Production numbers range from the millions to the extremely rare, defying even the most persistent collector.

Tom Holifield, LM ATTS

http://www.geocities.com/whistlestopstudio/whatis.htm

Silver kinda day

Back out to West Seattle this morning, but only for a half day. Hit up yet another new section and hunted about 10-12 house fronts. Most of my good finds came out of the same set of 2-3 houses though and all three silver dimes came from the same house. Nearly matched my wheat penny finds record - most were post 1944 though and no key dates, so nothing too valuable. The spoon pictured is a Wm. A. Rogers Silver Nickel spoon and I think it's an antique. As for the token, it's clear it's some type of sales tax token for Washington state, but what it was used for I can't seem to find out. Any ideas from my viewing audience?

Coin totals for the day:
(7) Modern Pennies
(28) Copper Pennies
(12) Wheat Pennies
(4) Quarters
(12) Modern Dimes
(3) Silver Dimes
(1) Canadian Nickel

First Merc

This morning I stopped by an abandoned tavern (red pictured building) in downtown Redmond that the city purchased and will be tearing down soon. This tavern has been around since the 30's and is named after the King county workshops that used to be nearby. I was hoping to get some real winners, but unfortunately it turns out most of the area is literally a dump with everything covered in beer bottles, gravel, and pavement. There may have been SOMETHING in there, but it wasn't worth the time.

I headed out to my new metal detecting home, West Seattle, and worked another new area in the older residential district I've been hitting up since I started. The houses pictured are the ones where I found most of my goodies, including the Mercury dime and the sterling silver ring. The dime was the first Mercury I have ever found or seen in person (minted between 1916 - 1945 prior to the Roosevelt and after the Barber). The ring with the blue stone is sterling silver and my guess is the stone is fake, but I'm not sure.

Also picture is a 8 ounce lead weight (I'm assuming for fishing), a very small thimble like object, a yellow pin with what looks like a sketch of a fish, and a odd marble like object.

Coin totals for the day:

(7) Modern Pennies
(33) Copper Pennies
(10) Wheat Pennies
(4) Modern Quarters
(4) Modern Dimes
(1) Mercury Dime
(3) Modern Nickels

Coin Roll Hunting

Well, since I can't get my metal detecting fix during the work week, I've read up an alternative / side hobby called Coin Roll Hunting. The idea is you purchase loose change from cashiers / tellers or purchase rolls of coins from the bank and then search through them for rare coins like old mintages, silver coins, error coins, etc. The best part about this hobby is it's free and can be practiced in the privacy of your own home on your own schedule. You cash in the coins you don't keep and use the money to buy your next set.

Today is officially my second day of coin roll hunting (CRHing). Yesterday I purchased $31 in Dollars, $10 in Halves, $150 in Quarters, $55 in Dimes and I was completely skunked. Not a single keeper. Today was a different story though. I picked up $9.50 in Halves, $100 in Quarters, $55 in Dimes, $20 in Nickels, and $5 in Pennies. Luck would have it I found:

(1) 1963 Silver Dime
(1) 1989 Dime w/ a Strike Error
(1) 1943 Steel War-Time Penny

I've never seen a steel penny in person, so needless to say that was a very cool surprise.

Barber Dime + Fastener ID

The days are getting longer and I'm now able to get in an hour or so of hunting after work - especially on a beautiful day like we had today in Seattle. I believe the high was around 58 and it was clear and sunny. I headed to local park and struggled through some biting gnats and false positive signals to find my best treasure yet - a 1911 Barber dime in beautiful condition. Barber dimes were minted between1892 and 1916, followed by the Mercury dimes of 1917 - 1945, and then the Roosevelt dimes of present day. Like almost all dimes minted prior to 1965, the Barber dime is 90% silver. Due to the strong details still visible on my coin, it's estimated value is around $25.00 - not bad huh?



Also, I was able to get a positive ID on that fastener from my 2-10 adventure. It's a hose clamp manufactured by HB Sherman Mfg Co (not MEG!).

A day with the kids and a few surprises

Erin and I started the day with a trip to a local middle school where there's a couple large fields for the kids to play in. It was a beautiful day, and although it doesn't show in the photos taken by my camera phone, the snow on the mountains in the distance was quite scenic. The kids were in heaven themselves as the photos show.



After the kids were pooped, we took them home and Erin and I went to work. Erin to the vet hospital and myself to a local property that supposedly was the location of an old schoolhouse from before the turn of the century. I parked at an abandoned property nearby and hiked into the woods and as expected, came upon an old structure that had collapsed and several open areas of foundation. The place was completely grown over with smaller trees and blackberry bushes and it looked like it had been renovated and occupied since it was originally built. Some original logs and foundation remained from the original schoolhouse, but there was evidence of plaster drywall and grounded electrical sockets which weren't around until the second half of the 20th century. If I had to guess the place had been abandoned since the 70's. Though I didn't have my detector with me (was just looking) I did come upon a tipped over aluminum trash can that contained what appeared to be 3 old home radios in the style of the 60s. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera phone with me, but I will be heading back there and will take some photos. This was my first surprise of the day.

After checking out the area, I headed back to my car to find my second surprise of the day. As the property came into view I noticed a large pickup truck parked behind my car and a nice Mercedes behind that. Looking at my car and talking to each other was a very large man (built like a tank - not fat) and what appeared to be his wife. I was a little worried because technically it was private property and I shouldn't have parked there. Seeing little choice as I was blocked in, I strolled up and greeted the (hopefully) friendly couple.

Turns out the large man and his wife were the owners of the property and were planning on converting it to an office building and drive-through coffee shop. After explaining I was there to investigate the neighboring property for possible metal detecting and assumed no one would notice or care if I parked in the driveway, they accepting of my apology. I guess the wife had driven by, noticed my car, and call her husband to join her for investigation. They told me they had recently had some break-ins at the property and wanted to make sure no one was causing trouble.

The husband asked to see my metal detector (I'm not sure he completely believed me) so I opened my trunk to let him see, at which point he remarked "Now that's a real metal detector honey - that's what I want." He introduced himself as Bob Cryder and told me a bit more about the property, which was one of the original farm houses for the valley and was building in 1920's. He then invited me to metal detect on his property and to ensure I wasn't bothered by the local authorities, handed me his business card.

I now understood why he was such a large man - at the bottom of his business card was listed, "Retired NFL - Seattle Seahawks #78 - New England Patriots #75 - University of Alabama #78/All American" Turns out he was an offensive lineman in the NFL from 1978 to 1986.

I then proceeded to hunt the property for the next hour (it was already 4pm by this time) and didn't find much - a couple modern coins and some junk. I plan to hit the property up again next weekend and give it a more thorough go. Here are some pics of the house.

2-16-08 - IH & Silver!

Another great morning over at West Seattle. Had plenty of targets to dig today and in the five hours of hunting I was 0nly able to cover about 90-100 sq yards. The highlight of the day was finding a beautiful 1907 Indian Head penny in very good conditional. Also noteworthy was yet another silver dime (1964) and a record number of wheaties - 13! This time I also decided to take a photo of one of the homes I hunted - the red arrow on the one photo shows the location of where I found the IH penny. Still waiting on some pre 1964 quarters and nickels, but my guess is this whole area has been cherry picked of these larger targets since they would be the clearest signals with earlier technology metal detectors.

Today is Caitlin's last day with us here in Redmond and we're sad to see her go (as are the kids!)

Summary of coin finds for today:

(2) Modern Quarters
(1) Modern Nickel
(4) Modern Dimes
(1) Silver Dime ('64)
(3) Modern Pennies
(3) Canadian Pennies
(29) Copper Pennies
(13) Wheat Pennies
(1) Indian Head Penny

Look for these state quarters!

There are two state quarters with error varieties worth a decent chunk of money to collectors. The first is the 2004-D Wisconsin State Quarter with an extra leaf on the corn cob located on the reverse of the coin. This error should be visible with the naked eye.




The other state quarter to look out for is the 2005 Minnesota state quarter. On the reverse of this coin there are couple of error varieties where an extra tree appears where it shouldn't. There are over 30 varieties of this error, but the extra tree should appear somewhere in the area indicated in the picture below. Click on the picture for a larger view (and a closer look).





Finally, across all quarter varieties, there is a chance of a die rotation error. This is identified by holding the coin with the obverse (front) of the coin held upright. Flip the coin over, pulling the top of the coin towards you, and the image on the reverse should also be perfectly upright. To get a feel for how it should look when you flip it, try it on a variety of coins. If you find a quarter (or any coin for that matter) where the reverse is not aligned with the obverse (off by 25 degrees or more) it is probably worth more than the face value and you should hold onto it.

Erin's First Blog Posting

Hi everyone. I promise I am going to start contributing to this page more from now on. For tonight I just wanted everyone to see the wonderful flowers that my wonderful boyfriend got me for Valentine's Day. He brought them home and arranged them himself in two separate vases. They are beautiful....I think he may be a keeper....:)...

Travel Planning Appt

Had my Travel Planning doctors appointment today for our trip to Peru and Ecuador - boy was that fun. Not only did I get two vaccine shots (Tetnis and Hepatitis A) which are now causing my upper arms to throb, but it turns out I'll need a separate suitcase just to carry all the medications I'll need to protect me while on vacation. Here's the list ...

- Typhoid Vaccination Pills
- Malaria Pills
- Seasickness Patches
- Altitude Sickness Pills
- Traveler's Diarrhea Pills
- Supplemental Diarrhea Medicine

Luckily the area we'll be traveling through does not harbor the mosquitoes that carry Yellow Fever, or that would be yet another vaccine I'd get to take.

Fun, Fun, Fun!

Coin Totals To Date

So I just logged all my latest coin finds (yes, I am that much of a nerd) and here are my updated totals since I started metal detecting at the end of last year.

(69) Modern Quarters
(162) Modern Dimes
(2) Silver Dimes
(26) Modern Nickels
(236) Modern Pennies
(180) Copper Pennies
(25) Wheat Pennies

Total Face Value: $39.16

2/10/08 - MDing and a trip to Alki Beach

Another trip on Sunday to West Seattle, but no silver like Saturday. Also turned out to be a shorter trip as I got out later and met up with Erin and Caity for lunch at Alki beach. Caity wasn't feeling too well so we had to cut the trip short of actually heading out on the beach. It was cold and windy so it wouldn't have been that pleasant of a stroll anyway. Sorry no photos again - one day I'll remember to bring the camera!

Anyway, here is the coin finds summary for the day:

(3) Modern pennies
(10) Copper pennies
(3) Modern Quarters
(1) Modern Nickel
(9) Modern Dimes
(5) Wheat Pennies (no key dates)

I'm not sure what the large iron fastener is, but the top rib has the visible letters, "SHERMAN MEG CO|", and the bottom rib has the visible letters, "-APLY PAT JUNE 20-93". There may have been a letter or two before the "S" in SHERMAN and before the "-" in Aply (or perhaps it wasn't a -). 10 points for anyone who can identify what it is!

First Silver + More

Today was DEFININITELY a good day. Not only did Erin's sister Caity arrive for a week long visit BUT I also found my first silver - in fact THREE in the SAME HOLE! Spent the morning in West Seattle and then the evening in Redmond on the outskirts of where the old Redmond golf course used to be. Not much luck in the afternoon except for the bullet - everything in the photos except for that is from West Seattle.

A neat note about finding silver, it comes out of the ground in the same condition it goes in - the photographs you see of the silver are only after cleaning a bit with a toothbrush and olive oil.

As for the fake tan-like pennies - that's from swirling them in a mixture of vinegar and salt. The zinc clad (nickels, dimes, and quarters) received a similar treatment.

The 22 shell has the letters UMC and 25 ACP and though you can't see it from the photograph, the back of the bullet is smooth as silk.

Final note, both Siek sisters got their first doses of Guitar Hero III and they both rocked it out hardcore to the likes of Pat Benetar, Cream, Foghat, and Aerosmith. Next time I will whip out the video camera for a little feature footage.

Tomorrow we head to Alki Beach over in West Seattle and hopefully we'll get some pictures to share.

(29) Copper Pennies
(8) Modern Pennies
(7) Wheat Pennies (no key dates)
(4) Modern Quarters
(5) Modern Nickels
(10) Modern Dimes
(1) Copper Canadian Penny
(2) Silver Dimes
(1) Silver Canadian Dime
(1) Bullet (handgun?)
(1) 22 Casing
(1) Animal rabies tag