Georgia tokens

[boomer]

Finally got some pics. Pulled out of a creek near ruins of old lumber mill. Left set is .05 to 1.00 Receipt for .... in labor. Obverse: STUART LUMBER CO., BRINSON -GA- NOT TRANSFERABLE. Other set is .05 to 1.00. N.H.GEORGE & COMPANY. Obverse: GOOD FOR .....IN MERCHANDISE. Brinson set I have found could bring as much as $90+. George set I have not been able to get a read on. Anyone can help me there? Also got some loose tokens, with hopes to complete another set.

[boomer]

The water has gotten to darn cold to go in for now. Next year!! Do you have some of these tokens, and which ones?

[leslie(nova scotia)]

From the land of the Bluenose...those are nice and I'm sure would make a great display!

[Idahotokens]

Boomer--Nice finds! That is the token collector's dream: finding the spot where a business disposed of the tokens when they stopped using them. So many tokens ended up in the WWII scrap metal drives or were otherwise melted down that it is nice to hear of some that were preserved in the care of Mother Nature!

Partins' 1990 GA Token book only lists one denomination of the Stuart Lumber Co. token - it is dated in the book at 1914 because the authors found the business listed in a 1914 Dun & Bradstreet rating book. It is probable that the business was around at least a few years either side of that date. The George tokens are not shown in the book.

I asked one of the authors about both of these sets of tokens and he tells me that "many of these tokens have surfaced in the past few years. All were retreived from the river." That the tokens are now known is another example where "new" discoveries happen after a catalog is published. Often, the publication of a catalog stirs up interest and brings out the new listings.

Nuton or Newton H. George was born about 1866 and was in the sawmill business in Decatur County, GA for many years. Logging operations tended to move around as trees were harvested, so it is not unusual for such a business to use maverick tokens. After all, if the "company store" was portable, then the tokens should be also. I suspect that one of these two token-issuing businesses bought the other out and both types of tokens may have been used interchangeably for some time.

And, for everyone posting pictures: Most digital cameras have a "macro" setting - it is usually chosen from a menu by selecting the little flower-like icon. Using it will allow focusing close-up. It is especially good for posting pictures of tokens, coins, and other small objects.

John in ID

[boomer]

Hey, Idaho, thanks for the great info. You made my day. By the way, I used to live in Nampa. Near you?

[Idahotokens]

Yep- just down the road. BTW, Nampa now has the 2nd highest city population in the state. John in ID

[boomer]

Hey, John, all I can remember of Nampa is how cold it got. You could stand outside in a t-shirt on a sunny day and all you would feel is your skin tingleing. Wouldn't realize you were freezing. The air was so dry. Not like the humid Ga. air here. Also, that was the first jet I ever saw, a F-84 Shooting Star flew over the town and everyone came out to see what was making the roaring sound. Everyone wondered where the props were on the plane. (LOL)