Examples Of Scrip Certificates

I couldn't find a thread that already dealt with this topic, so I thought I'd start one (and revive the Checks, Stocks, and Bonds sub-forum!).
These Depression-era certificates might look a lot like checks, though they functioned quite differently from them. They intersect nicely with revenue and cinderella collectors, as they often contain stamps. Here are a few that I own, and I would love to see others' examples as well.

The first is from Fostoria, OH:



These next two show the front and back of the same scrip from Multnomah County, OR:





This last set again shows the front and back of the same scrip, this one from Sedalia, MO:

Very nice grouping. Rarely seen.

Interesting that I received an Ebay lot from Sadalia MO today. Nice items there DenimDan.

Thank you both very much. I haven't bought any scrip certificates in a while. The Fostoria, OH one is the most common of these three. Eric Jackson used to have them pretty regularly, and you can find them from time to time on eBay, usually in the exonumia section. Much more common are company scrip tokens (often metallic coins) and local merchant scrip (usually small pieces of cardboard or paper). I like the Depression scrip certificates the most because of their frequent use of stamps.

DenimDan, here's something similar I have from the Civil War era. Instead of cash, it would eventually be redeemed for a share of stock. It looks like the concept of coupons hadn't dawned on them yet, so the scrip holder had to collect multiple certificates to obtain the share.

I don't have many but they are neat items. This stock scrip has a nice imperf affixed.




And some mining scrip, both payable to "Sam W. Hill, Agt." Hill was a member of the State House of Representatives, surveyor, associated with Douglas Houghton in surveying the Upper Peninsula and he managed the interests of many mining companies. Hill achieved legendary status for his colorful use of profanity which coined the expression 'What in Sam Hill?'

DenimDan, I've got a counterpart to your Multnomah County scrip. This is the 25 cent piece. I picked this up after puzzling over the validation stamps I found years ago. There were three denominations: 25¢, 50¢, and $1. A $5 piece was printed as a specimen, but never rolled out.

Very cool stuff, Greg! Thanks for sharing the scans. (I figured you probably had some depression scrip in your collection, since I do and we seem to collect pretty much the same stuff.)

I thought about going after the rest of the values of the Multnomah depression scrip when they came up on the Bay not long ago. Those stamp pairs are really cool. Do you remember how you came across them? They look unused, and I just can't remember seeing too many unused validation stamps in pairs.

When I lived in Portland, OR, I believe I picked them out of a kiloware box as curiosities for 10¢ a stamp! They languished in an envelope for many years until I happened on a piece of scrip with stamps attached and figured out what they were.

A couple years ago on another paper money forum, a member posted a pair of multiple Civil War scrip pieces from Nacogdoches County, Texas. These were of interest not only for the fronts but for what was on the back -- they were printed on sections of a previously unknown railroad bond. Other members posted similar scrip pieces and, using Photoshop and some creative compositing, I was able to stitch together the top half of the bond, which we figured out was for the Eastern Texas Rail Road.

This past week I discovered the Rowe-Barr Collection of Texas Currency at Southern Methodist University. The library housing the collection recently did scans of all the currency, which are now viewable online at http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/c...llection/tbn. It includes more than a dozen pieces of Nacogdoches scrip.

Among these, I was able to find eight more "puzzle pieces" which provide a larger image of the lower half of the bond, when attached to the mock-up I created earlier. This was a $100 coupon bond, which had five coupons along the bottom, paying $8 apiece in interest. Thanks to the hi-res images, I could even zoom in and identify the printer, which was Hosford & Ketcham of New York. It was a lot of fun doing this "online archaeology."





The Rowe-Barr collection is quite fascinating and I scrolled through all 63 pages of notes. It contains a vast number scrip pieces, many of which were also printed on repurposed paper. The variety is simply amazing and illustrates the dire shortage of paper during the war: uncut sheets of bank checks, newspapers, quack medicine advertisements, maps, circus flyers, banknotes, unissued stocks and bonds -- and even one that looks to be printed on the back of a personal letter! If you have some time, I encourage members to take a look at the collection.

Here's a piece of "advertising scrip" (as someone else described it) that I found in an old book. A buck off your next urinalysis!

I have "Coal Scrips"
Not sure if they are pertinent here, if so I'll post scans.

Let's see 'em!

I am ignorant of US Ephemera, this what I have, and from research years ago....
Hope this is suitable.

Commentary below: Unknown author.

As a short history on scrip, I could find no better description than the one provided in the Edkins Scrip Catalogue of United States Coal Company Store Scrip, Third Edition, Volume 1. , Bill Williams and Steve Ratliff

It states #8220; Scrip was in essence a credit token and fundamentally was used as follows: An employee of the coal
company who desired credit at the company store would request issuance of scrip against work performed or work
to be performed. The scrip so issued would be charged against the employee#8217;s payroll account and its face value
would be deducted from the amount due him for work performed on the following payday. The scrip would then
be spent at the company commissary.

Some companies paid their employees exclusively in scrip on every payday, thereby eliminating the need to
keep U.S. currency on hand. Later, some states passed laws requiring the company to pay in U.S. currency each
month. Companies avoided this by paying in currency at the end of the month and using scrip for weekly or
bi-monthly paydays.#8221;

As coal mining in the Appalachian region of the United States began to develop in the late 1800#8217;s, mines were
established in remote, rugged areas, far away from banks and stores. Partially from a need to supply household
goods to miners and partially to capitalize on an opportunity to make a profit, mine owners established company
stores in their mining town. As actual U. S. currency was difficult for mines to keep on hand in sufficient
quantities, the companies began to issue their own scrip tokens as payment for the miners#8217; wages. Most scrip was
unique in appearance so that a mine#8217;s company store could immediately identify its own scrip, as most did not want
to accept tokens issued by another company.

Miners were given scrip in advance of their wages to buy necessities for the home, but also to pay rent on
the company-owned houses they lived in, to buy tools and supplies for work, to pay utilities and medical care, and
even to contribute to a mandatory funeral fund. All this was paid to the coal company. There was little retail
competition in the coalfields and the prices at some company stores were often so high that miners virtually had
nothing left to collect when payday arrived.

According to Stan Cohen, in his book, King Coal: #8220;Payment by scrip served a dual purpose. The miner
could get wages in advance of his regular paycheck, and he did not have borrow money or charge items at the store,
The company in turn did not need to keep extensive charge account records, nor were there difficult collection
problems involved.#8221;


Another good source of information is a book entitled 20,000 Coal Company Stores, Gordon Dodrill, Copyright
1971, Duquesne Lithographing Company. It is a listing of mining company names with codes, company store
names, location of store, number of employees, and years of operation.