By Wayne Homren for The E-Sylum eNewsletter….
Each week, CoinWeek, in collaboration with the Numismatic Bibliomania Society, brings you a highlighted feature from the current volume of the E-Sylum eNewsletter.
John Mutch writes:
Richard Greever’s tokencatalog.com site has some more mental hospital tokens – I searched for “hospital”. There may be others on his site, but the ones below are or were mental hospitals.
Thanks. Here they are! -Wayne Homren, Editor
Battleford, Saskatchewan, Canada: Mental Hospital Battleford
MENTAL / HOSPITAL / BATTLEFORD
GOOD FOR / 1 / LOAF OF BREAD
Pueblo, CO: Colorado State Hospital
COLORADO / STATE / HOSPITAL
GOOD FOR / 5¢ / IN TRADE
TC-287500; Pritchard PU305-5a *** 21.28mm
Brainerd, MN: Brainerd State Hospital
C.D. RECOVERY PROGRAM / (Butterfly) / BRAINERD STATE HOSPITAL
ONE DAY AT A TIME / GOD GRANT ME THE / SERENITY TO ACCEPT / THINGS I CANNOT / CHANGE, COURAGE TO / CHANGE THINGS I CAN / AND WISDOM TO KNOW / THE DIFFERENCE
TC-133274 *** Brainerd State Hospital 1958-Present; Once housing over 1500 patients, this now houses only 16 mentally ill patients and houses the C.D. Recovery Program as well as some Minnesota Care staff. 10 buildings were demolished in 2011.
Unusual shape for a token. What do we call this – “the flat tire”? From the image, it looks to me like the piece was struck this way, not cut or damaged afterwards. –Wayne
[Editor’s Note: I wonder if it’s not meant to symbolize the sun rising over a landscape, representing hope? Or maybe the odd shape has something to do with the token’s message of accepting that which we cannot change? You know how “obsessive” collectors can be… –Hubert Walker]
Lincoln, NE: Lincoln State Hospital
LINCOLN STATE HOSPITAL / STORE / LINCOLN, / NEBR.
GOOD FOR / CE1NT / IN TRADE {GFIT-1-CENT-6}
TC-268811 ***
Yankton, SD: Yankton State Hospital
GOOD FOR / 10¢ / IN TRADE / YANKTON STATE / HOSPITAL / SNACK SHOP
(blank) (incuse)
TC-119396; Kent
San Antonio, TX: San Antonio State Hospital
SAN ANTONIO / STATE / HOSPITAL / TOKEN STORE
GOOD FOR / 1¢ / IN TRADE
TC-147532; TX1984 *** 16.73 mm; uncommon
Montrose Lunatic Hospital
Paul Bosco writes:
There is also the Montrose Lunatic Hospital 1/2-Penny of 1799, a “Conder” token, worth $20-30 in VF. There are other European issues, late 1800s into the1900s. I once had an English agricultural prize medal awarded to a mental hospital for –I swear– vegetables.
I found some information on the token online at the www.rarecoinsandtokens.co.uk site. –Wayne
Montrose Lunatic Hospital 1799 halfpenny token Angusshire, Andrew Nicol Montrose halfpenny token 1799:
Obv: MONTROSE HALFPENNY 1799 around shield of arms with supporters.
Rev: MONTROSE LUNATIC HOSPITAL/ERECTED BY SUBSCRIPTION around building with the date 1781 underneath.
Edge: PAYABLE BY ANDREW NICOL TOBACCONIST x (barely visible). Manufactured by Kempson, the die-sinker was Willets.
D&H 32 listed as scarce
***
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LUNATIC ASYLUM TOKENS
Click here to read the rest of this week’s issue of the E-Sylum eNewsletter.
