Exonumia are

numismatic Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

items (such as tokens,

medal A medal or medallion is a small portable artistic object, a thin disc, normally of metal, carrying a design, usually on both sides. They typically have a commemorative purpose of some kind, and many are presented as awards. They may be in ...

s, or

scrip A scrip (or ''wikt:chit#Etymology 3, chit'' in India) is any substitute for legal tender. It is often a form of credit (finance), credit. Scrips have been created and used for a variety of reasons, including exploitative payment of employees un ...

) other than coins and paper money. This includes "Good For" tokens, badges, counterstamped coins, elongated coins, encased coins, souvenir medallions, tags, wooden nickels and other similar items. It is an aspect of

numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...

and many coin collectors are also exonumists. Besides the above strict definition, others extend it to include non-coins which may or may not be legal tenders such as cheques, credit cards and similar paper. These can also be considered notaphily or scripophily.

Etymology

The noun ''exonumia'' is derived from two classical roots: ''exo'', meaning "out-of" in Greek, and '' nummus'', meaning "coin" in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

(from Greek νοῦμμος – ''noummos'', "coin"); thus, "out ideof- he categoryoins". The equivalent

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

term, paranumismatica, may also be used. The words ''exonumist'' and ''exonumia'' were coined in July 1960 by Russell Rulau, a recognized authority and author on the subject, and accepted by

Webster's dictionary ''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the US English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by Noah Webster (1758–1843), a US lexicographer, as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...

in 1965.

Token coins

Many tokens were produced and used as currency in the United States and elsewhere when there was a shortage of government-issued money. Tokens have been used for both to advertise and to facilitate commerce and may or may not have a value. Token authority Russell Rulau offers a broad definition for exonumia in his 1040 page tome, ''UNITED STATES TOKENS: 1700–1900'' but lines between categories can be fuzzy. For example, an advertising token may also be considered a medal. Good For tokens may also advertise. Counter-stamped coins have been called "little billboards." One way of parsing tokens is into these three general categories: * Has a "value," facilitating commerce, such as ''Good for (something)''. * Commemoration, remembrance, dedication, or the like, for some person, place, idea or event. * Of a ''personal nature''. Typically, catalogs of tokens are organized by location, time period, and/or type of item. Historically, the need for tokens grew out of the need for currency. In America, some tokens legally circulated alongside or instead of currency. Hard Times Tokens and Civil War tokens each were the size of the contemporary cent. Afterwards, value based items, such as ''Good for (amount of money)'', ''Good for One Quart of Milk'', ''Good for One Beer'', ''Good for One Ride…'' and others were specifically linked to commerce of the store or place of issue.

Medals

Medals are coin-like artistic objects, typically with a commemorative purpose. They may be awarded for recognition of achievement or created for sale to commemorate individuals or events. They may be souvenirs, devotional, or purely artistic. Medals are generally not used as currency or for exchange.

Exonumia collecting

Exonumia collectors, like coin collectors, are attentive to condition and rarity, as well as to history, form and type. Exonumists may collect items by region, topic, type, shape or material and this affects the ways tokens are documented. The following categories are typical. This is not all-inclusive but is a sampling of the wide variety of exonumia.

By type

''Modified/augmented'': *Love Token: A coin with hand engraving, on one or both sides, or deliberately bent. Some were made by convicts prior to deportation. When bent, the coin indicated the taking of a vow.Coin News. Pub. Token. . July 1998. p. 29. *Carved Potty coins: usually United States Seated Liberty coinage carved to show lady Liberty sitting on a chamber pot. * Hobo nickels: Initially, hand-engraved Buffalo nickels mostly in the era 1913–38. Now, applied more generally to hand-engraved coins of different denominations. * Counterstamped/countermarked or chopped coins (done by merchants or governments) *Cut Coins: artistically carved creations made from genuine coins, both new and old, often for jewelry. * Elongated coins: Rolled out with advertising, commemorative, or souvenir designs on one side *Encased Coin: Generally in a ring with advertising * Colored or painted circulation or bullion issues * Short snorter: paper money signed by people sharing a common experience * Coin slabs: rare or sample slabs ''Play money / fantasy / counterfeit / art'' * Play money or game counters (e.g. imitation guineas, whist tokens) * Fantasy issue or novelty money (e.g. Promotional fake United States currency, Prop money) * Mardi Gras Doubloons * Counterfeit coins including evasion tokens * Money art ''Government services & non-national tools to facilitate commerce'' * Jetons: Used as counters when verifying totals or weights of coins for commerce and exchange * Telephone tokens/ Gettoni *

Local currency In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, while a community curren ...

, e.g. Ithaca Hours * Sales tax tokens: Issued by states and merchants * Dog license tags * Post office tags * Ration tokens, e.g. OPA tokens * Food stamps * Slave tags: see Slave codes ''Transportation tokens'' * Ferries and watercraft * Buses * Subway * Trains * Trams/Trolleys ''Closed community / membership'' * Communion tokens: given to congregation members to permit them to participate in Holy Communion) * Company scrip * Ingle Credit System script *

Lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes (dimensional lumber), including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, window frames). ...

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

(CCC) * College Currency * Challenge coins * Fraternal ** Masonic ** Elks **

Moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

** Woodmen of the World * Geocoins used in geocaching * Leper colony money * Military ** Military payment certificate ** Allied Military Currency ** Japanese invasion money ** canteen, mess hall, NCO club tokens * Plantation ** Picker tokens for crops * Prison and Correctional/Asylums * Sobriety coin South Leith communion token obverse

''By material / shapes'' * Wooden nickels * Cardboard or paper * Hard rubber or ebonite * Porcelain money *

Bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from ...

, e.g. non-legal tender silver rounds ''Movements and ideals'' * Temperance * Anti-slavery * Religious, e.g. Indian temple tokens * Political tokens, e.g. Bryan Money ''Of a personal nature – personals'' * Key tags (e.g. ''In case lost return to …'') * Badges ** Company ** Occupation * Hand-engraved or uniquely counterstamped coins, as pocket pieces * Watch fobs Loco pay cheque - GWR

''By issuer'' * Arcade/Amusement tokens * Apothecary tokens * Bakery token * Beer * Pub/bar/saloon * Billiards/pool * Brothel tokens * Car wash tokens * Casino/Slot tokens/Casino chips * Cigar/smoke shops * Coat check * Disney Dollars * Fisherman tokens * Milk/dairy * Parking tokens: for meters or gates * Pay toilet tokens * Peep show * Railway cheque tokens ''Medals'' * Politicians, inventors and other notables, e.g.

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

World's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition, is a large global exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specific site for a perio ...

s or other expositions * City or state anniversaries * So-called dollars: medals and souvenirs similar in size to a silver dollar commemorating American historical events such as world's fairs, anniversary celebrations, dedications, battles, public works projects, etc. ''Modern items'' under the exonumia umbrella include: * Credit cards *

Gift card A gift card, also known as a gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK, is a prepaid stored-value card, stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for pu ...

s * Telephone cards * Music cards

By region

China

There are many types of Chinese exonumia, including alternative currencies: * Bamboo tally * Token and numismatic charms: * Buddhist coin charm * Burial money * Confucian coin charm * Horse coin * Hell money * Lei Ting curse charm * Marriage coin charm * Open-work charm * Vault protector coin * Taoist coin charm * Zhengde Tongbao

Germany

Notgeld (German language, German for 'emergency money' or 'necessity money') is money issued by an institution in a time of economic or political crisis. The issuing institution is usually one without official sanction from the central government. This ...

, primarily in the form of paper

banknote A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commerc ...

s, was issued in Germany and Austria during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

by towns, banks and other institutions due to a shortage of money.

Latin America

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n coffee or plantation tokens were an important part of commerce. Many plantation owners had their own commissaries and workers used plantation tokens to pay for provisions. Many tokens were made in the United States or Europe. Plantation tokens had an array of denominations and names. The name can be the owner, their relatives or the name of the farm (or finca). Tokens had allegorical symbols to identify the owner. Tokens were used as currency when there was not enough official currency available. Workers could convert the tokens to official currency on Saturdays. Tokens were made in all types of base metals and alloys plus plastic, celluloid and

bakelite Bakelite ( ), formally , is a thermosetting polymer, thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed by Belgian chemist ...

. Unique to Costa Rica were tokens made of paper ( paper chits). The word "boleto" is used in Costa Rica for the word token whereas "ficha" is used in the rest of Latin America.

United Kingdom

Conder tokens were privately minted tokens from the later part of the 18th century and the early part of the 19th century in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

United States

Rulau breaks down American tokens into these general time periods: * Early American * Hard times tokens were made during the " hard times" after President Andrew Jackson shut down the

Second Bank of the United States The Second Bank of the United States was the second federally authorized Second Report on Public Credit, Hamiltonian national bank in the United States. Located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the bank was chartered from February 1816 to January ...

. These tokens were issued privately to circulate in the local economy as a one cent coin. They had a wide variety of subject matter, including advertising and political/satirical themes (anti-slavery, anti-Jackson). * Civil War tokens were made between 1861 and 1864 due to the scarcity of government-issued cents during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. Encased postage stamps were also used for this purpose. * Merchant (including modern gas tokens, ex: Shell tokens) * Trade tokens * Gay 90s

References

External links

Token And Medal Society

Civil War Token SocietyRichard's Token Database
Searchable database for Good For's and other items {{Chinese exonumia