Rita LeBleu

rlebleu@americanpress.com

Did you know?

In the article about metal detecting, one Lake Charles resident said he took up the hobby to find antique Louisiana Trade Tokens. What are trade tokens? Merchant trade tokens were issued here and other parts of the world in the 1800s through the early 1900s. One way to understand these “good-fors” or tokens is to see its similarities to the modern day coupon. It encouraged repeat business.

Tokens also benefitted businesses, company stores and commissaries. Lumber companies and sugar and cotton commissaries issued tokens, as well as bakeries, dairies, grocers and general stores, restaurants, seafood packing houses, saloons, pool halls and bus lines.

Here’s how Carly A. Kocurek explained one of the ways companies used tokens in the online Atlantic Article dated February 27, 2014:

Claiming a shortage of currency, employers would pay workers using scrip which forced them to shop at the company store and left them little recourse from accepting the company’s fixed—and often inflated—prices for essential goods. Scrip in this case, like other tokens, is unlike currency because its value is localized; it is dependent on the continued operation of the business that issued it.

“In very rural areas, there wasn’t a lot of money, according to a local state token expert. “If a general store operated in a rural area, the storeowner would buy eggs and produce from local farmer’s using tokens. In some cases, tokens circulated around town like money, some banks would honor them.”

Tokens, which have the word, “saloon” imprinted on them are prized among collectors. In saloons and bars, drinks might have been sold two for a quarter. If the token wasn’t used for the second drink on the day of the visit, the patron could bring it back when he was ready.

Trade tokens are still used today. Restaurants have thrown out tokens/doubloons in Mardi Gras parades, which are good for a free drink with a meal, etc. Some arcades still use tokens.

Tokens were made of brass, bronze or aluminum. However, cardboard and fiber were also used. Paper coupon books saw some use in Louisiana. The method of use was limited only by the imagination of the issuer, but most fell into one of the following categories: Extend credit; provide a discount; make change in unusual amounts, ensure purchases at a particular business; designate an amount of work done; show proof-of-purchase; attract new customers; serve as a medium of exchange after a pre-payment and to control access to certain areas.

Tokens were known by numerous nicknames. Coal miners called them “flickers.” In saloons and bars, particularly those in the Midwest, they were known as “chits.” “Klacker was popular in Alabama, while “scrip,” “checks,” and “due bills” saw widespread use. The most prevalent name in Louisiana seemed to be “brozine.” The origin of this term is not known, but it is possibly an altered form of “bronze” which was the composition of many tokens. Another popular term in Louisiana was “doo-ga-loo” or “quartee, which may be derived from the fact that it represented one-tenth of a quarter.

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Examples of trade tokens from the Louisiana Trade Tokens website.