The Wisconsin Historical Society Wisconsin Token Collection

The Wisconsin Historical Society in Madison, Wisconsin is an excellent resource for historical research. They have collections of newspapers, vital records, photographs, maps, genealogy data, biographical articles, etc. Of particular interest to Wisconsin token collectors is the Society’s extensive city directory collection. Equally important is the Wisconsin State Gazetteer and Business Directory. This directory was published in 1852, 1865 and, starting in 1876, every two to three years until 1927. The few issues of the Gazetteer the Society does not have can be found at the Milwaukee and Green Bay libraries. The Gazetteer is valuable because it lists businesses not only in the larger cities but also in small villages and unincorporated municipalities that do not have city directories. The Society’s library also has an excellent selection of token books.

The Historical Society also maintains a wide range of artifacts. Wisconsin tokens are part of this collection. A search of their database using the words “Wisconsin” or “Milwaukee” and “token” yields almost 600 token listings. The following is a summary of what is included in their collection.

The Beautiful Wisconsin Historical Society Building

Transportation tokens: There are over 140 tokens for bus, rail (mainly streetcar/trolley) and boat transportation. Several toll road/bridge tokens are included. The tokens are of various metals, plastic and wood. Thirty-one municipalities are represented. Of particular interest is an 1866 25-cent toll token for the lower falls bridge in Black River Falls. There are four Wood Co. Bridge Co. (Wisconsin Rapids) tokens, circa 1870. Denominations include 2½, 15 and 25 cents. Most, if not all, Wood County Bridge Company tokens were struck over Civil War tokens but the Historical Society tokens show evidence of being over-struck.

Pre-Civil War tokens: Wisconsin tokens prior to 1860 are five A. B. Van Cott (Racine) tokens, circa 1850, and five 1850 Hopkins Western Publishing (Milwaukee) tokens.

Wooden Nickels: There are seven wood tokens from five municipalities.

Lumber Company tokens: Two lumber companies are represented. Ten Connor Lumber (Laona) tokens are included, circa 1904. Denominations of 5, 10, 25 and 50 cents and $1 are brass and the $5 token is aluminum. Charles R. Smith Mill (Neenah) has two tokens, holed as struck, circa 1890.

Civil War tokens: The largest token set is comprised of Wisconsin Civil War store card tokens, with 295 pieces. Some are duplicates but there is a very good representation of towns and varieties. There are 22 tokens with rarity 7 (11 to 20 known to exist). 13 tokens are rarity 8 (5 to 10 known). These R8 tokens are from Fond du Lac, Mayfield, Milwaukee, North Prairie, Oshkosh, Racine, Sheboygan, Watertown and Whitewater. Three rarity 9 (2 to 4 known) tokens are in the collection. These R9 tokens are from Joseph Fischbein of Milwaukee (WI-510-K-3a1), Severn & Jones of Milwaukee (WI-510-AJ-2a) and the Madison Brewery of John Rodermund (Fuld WI-410-G-3a).

Good For tokens: Only 17 “good for” tokens are represented from 10 locations. They are for rides, soda, popcorn, towel checks, beer, parking and games. The Palmolive Company (Milwaukee) has four tokens, circa 1916 to 1926, redeemable for soap.

Political tokens: The only Wisconsin political token is for the 1900 Republican State Convention (William McKinley/Theodore Roosevelt).

Denominational tokens: Sixty denominational tokens are present, with most of these representing taverns. Denominations range from 2½ cents to $5. The $5 token is from Bloch Furniture and Carpet Company (Racine). Sixteen tavern tokens do not list any amount. Twenty-eight municipalities are included in these tokens.

Dairy tokens: Only two dairy tokens are present from Madison and Middleton dairies.

Advertising tokens: Eighteen advertising tokens are included from ten companies.

Fraternal tokens: Six Masonic tokens from Madison, Oconto and Portage and one Milwaukee Elks token from 1901 are present.

There are probably more Wisconsin tokens in the collection that would be evident if different searches of the Wisconsin Historical Society collection database were conducted. Perhaps searches of “lumber” or “dairy,” along with “token,” would yield additional results. Incidentally, using only “token” as a search word gives 1,256 entries. Included in this less restrictive search is a set of Hudson Bay Company tokens.

The database can only be searched by the staff of the Wisconsin Historical Society. This is because of the incomplete state of the catalog records and because a thorough knowledge of the records is required. There are 150 years of records that still need to be converted to an electronic format, which is expected to take many years. Many records are worksheets not yet cataloged digitally.

The tokens are difficult to personally examine because they are currently boxed in preparation for a move to new storage. Pictures, however, are available with the database searches.

If a copy of the Wisconsin token search results is desired, please email me at rogerlalich@yahoo.com and I will email the results to you. To get further information on a specific numismatic item or database search, contact David Driscoll, Curator of Economic History, via e-mail.

Milwaukee Public Museum

The Milwaukee Public Museum has over 30,000 numismatic items with 70 percent being European and ancient items. There are about 50 Wisconsin tokens in the collection. Most are Civil War tokens with around a dozen transportation tokens and a few tax/prosperity and “good for” tokens. No computer database is available and the handwritten ledgers are vague and may list a token as “penny-like coin, copper, Wisconsin, 1860s.” One of the highlights, however, is the only known uncirculated John Smart North Prairie, Wisconsin Civil War token WI550C-1a (R8).

Shown here is an example of a circulated John Smart token -
the example in the Milwaukee Public Museum is uncirculated.

PHOTO CREDITS: The Sturgeon Bay, Palmolive, and S.W.RY token images were taken by the author and are courtesy of The Wisconsin Historical Society.

Thank you Roger for reminding us of this fantastic resource! - Editor

Have an interesting numismatic topic you’d like to share with your fellow NOW members?

Send your article to evan.pretzer@protonmail.com today!!!

For more NOW Articles Written By Members, join N.O.W. today!