All day today I've been sick...SICK WITH THE COLLECTING BUG...I know...you're wondering what I mean by a collecting bug?
For the past 15 years I have collected Local History Items from my hometown and all the other places in my county. Grundy County only has about 14,000 people so really the entire county is like one big town in itself...just separated out of course with lots of fields and woods.
A local collector in nearby Marion County decided to rid himself of his collection of Grundy County items. After sending me a business card thru the mail to let me know he was going to sell it and asking if I would buy it, after no answer from me, he listed it all on Ebay. Now, you ask how I let this one slip by me??? Well...we pack and ship Ebay orders several days a week and when the mail lady picks up my packages she leaves our mail in the garage on the table. I forget that we also need to check the mailbox at the end of our driveway. So, Mr. Marion Collector's letter with his business card was mailed on April 13th but unlucky me didn't get it from the mail box til just a few days ago. OOPS!!! I've paid the price because of it too... I could have bought the entire collection without having to bid against others and it would have been a lot cheaper also. Nevertheless, so far I have bought everything I wanted but one rare general store token. I lost it, but I at least gave up a good fight.
First item for bid was this old drug store bottle dating from the 1910s to 1920s era. It is from Tracy City (the opposite side of the county from me). There's not much from Palmer (where I live) because we were the last stop on the railroad line and the last place that coal was harvested before the mines shut down. Most items you see made are from Monteagle, Tracy City and Coalmont. I lucked up with this one with the winning bid at only $21.
Next item up for bids was the Soda Water bottle made by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company. Yes, believe it or not, Tracy City had their own bottling plant for Coca-Cola for a quite a number of years. It's amazing how many small towns in the Tennessee area did make different sodas. This cost a little more with a winning bid of $36.88.
25 Cent SEWANEE COAL COKE & LAND CO MERCHANDISE TOKEN COALMONT, TENNESSEE Rare
10 Cent SEWANEE COAL COKE & LAND CO MERCHANDISE TOKEN COALMONT, TENNESSEE rare
5 Cent Tracy City, Tennessee TENN COAL IRON & RR CO Merchandise Brass Token Rare
Details about $1 Paper Scrip SEWANEE FUEL & IRON CO COALMONT, TENNESSEE dated Oct 12, 1932
Next came these Coal Scrip tokens. What is coal scrip???
Coal scrip was the coal miner's pay at the end of the week. They did not get paid US Currency. They got paid with tokens (usually brass or aluminum) or paper certificates.
NOW...Here's the catch...they were ONLY redeemable at the local Company Store, and guess who owned the company store? THE MINING COMPANIES OWNED THE COMPANY STORE!!! It was an unfair practice as the company store could markup their items to a high profit margin with no risk for competition as the miners' pay was only good for that store. Nowhere else could they go to spend their scrip. Some people have compared it to a modern day type of slavery.
These tokens were not cheap...the Sewanee Coal, Coke & Land tokens were $128.50 each, the Store Keeper Tracy City token was $89.88 (there was a 10 Cent Piece just like it in mint condition that went for $306.81 but I unfortunately lost that bid), and then the paper script (which in my opinion is the rarest of all) went unnoticed for whatever reason and I stole it for a mere $19.99. Whipppeeee!!! Yay! For Me!
This is Part 1. Be sure to look for Part 2 to be posted soon.