Oregon Centennial Tokens were a type of trade

token Token may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Token, a game piece or counter, used in some games * The Tokens, a vocal music group * Tolkien Black, a recurring character on the animated television series ''South Park,'' formerly known as ...

(also known as a "So-Called Dollar") issued during the 1959

Oregon Centennial The Oregon Centennial was the 100th anniversary of the statehood of the U.S. state of Oregon. The day of the anniversary was February 14, 1959, but centennial events took place throughout the year. Festivities were held all over the state, with the ...

. Many localities sold them as a

fundraiser Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

to finance their Centennial celebrations.

Design

The Northwest Specialty Sales Co. created several prototypes and induced 38 localities to purchase the tokens. Each locality had the option of using the standard

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

and a customizable standard reverse. The standard reverse also had room for two logos around the outer rim. Each locality determined the logos that were displayed on the reverse upper and lower curvatures. The standard obverse was the official emblem of the Oregon Centennial. The standard reverse had a center with the phrase: "Good For 50¢ in trade At any cooperative Business or Redeemable At face value at the (locality) (location) until 3 P.M. Friday Sept. 1959." There existed variations of the standard reverse phrasing between localities but this one was the most common.

Physical attributes

The tokens range in size from 32 to 40 millimeters in diameter. Different

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

compositions were used by the manufacturer of the tokens. Each locality had the option of which type or types of metal composition to use in production. Some localities created limited versions using different metals than their standard versions. These different versions were used as awards, gifts, or special mementos for dignitaries.

References

Token coins History of Oregon 1959 establishments in Oregon {{Coin-stub