US sales tax tokens

[Prosit]

Old age assistance, Consumer Tax Token.  This time from...you guessed it, Oklahoma!
Bronze and 23mm.

Dale

[villa66]

How neat. The Canadians used the same colour, but with a different meaning. The hole is to make sure no one could us a US token, I suppose....

The Canadian token pre-dates the American OPA token, I believe, and confusion between the two--even without the hole--would have been minimal indeed: the Canadian piece is considerably larger.

v.

[malj1]

The Canadian token pre-dates the American OPA token, I believe, and confusion between the two--even without the hole--would have been minimal indeed: the Canadian piece is considerably larger v.

The Canadian token measure 23mm while the OPA tokens are 16mm. OPA stands for Office of Price Administration and were first issued in 1944; Stopped being issued in 1945.
Here are the two types of OPA...

[villa66]

Your hard times are now the good old days. Here is a 1988 restrike of the ole tokens with an explanatory note from the Department of Revenue (otherwise known as TAX) of the state of Washington. They were not "replaced by pennies in 1951", of course. Just inflationed out of existence....

Are we sure this is actually a 1988 restrike? The wording of the card also supports the idea of this being one of the originals, employed for souvenir purposes, and the only other mention of this card that I've found so far talks only in terms of a "reissue."

v.

[WillieBoyd2]

My father had a position in the early 1930's that involved travelling,
and he saved these tokens then.

I put photographs of the different ones that he saved on my website.

[villa66]

My father had a position in the early 1930's that involved travelling,
and he saved these tokens then.

I put photographs of the different ones that he saved on my website.

Any idea whether the Washington tax tokens were restruck in 1988? If so, I need one!

v.

[malj1]

I see the inner legend on Peters "restrike" reads SALES TAX TOKEN whereas the original reads TAX TOKEN so this warrants another description, souvenir reissue perhaps? I wonder what is on the other side, if anything?

Brian's site has two - one in pewter [1941] - but both simply state TAX TOKEN . he says 1939 but they seem to be 1935; my example is 1935.

[WillieBoyd2]

The Washington tokens were not restruck.

The promotion above has original tokens from the 1930's.

[malj1]

I certainly don't know enough about the subject to argue but that does not address my objection above that the"restrike" token has a different legend.

[villa66]

I see the inner legend on Peters "restrike" reads SALES TAX TOKEN whereas the original reads TAX TOKEN so this warrants another description, souvenir reissue perhaps? I wonder what is on the other side, if anything?

Brian's site has two - one in pewter [1941] - but both simply state TAX TOKEN . he says 1939 but they seem to be 1935; my example is 1935.

This all well observed, and wouldn't you know it, but Washington's sales tax tokens are out of the ordinary in a couple of respects. There are three center-holed types:

1) O: TAX TOKEN / R: 10 CENTS OR LESS, type of 1935-41 (all "dated" 1935), of aluminum
2) O: TAX TOKEN / R: 14 CENTS OR LESS, type of 1941 (all "dated" 1941), of grey fiber
3) O: SALES TAX TOKEN / R: SALES TAX TOKEN, type of 1946-51 (all undated), of aluminum

They were demonetized in 1951 and at that point their remaining functions were taken over by pennies, as the souvenir card recalls. But what the card doesn't mention is that the grey fiber tokens of '41 were replaced by plastic tokens during WWII as in several states, but unlike them, Washington reverted to metal after the war. The old aluminum tokens of '35-41 were reintroduced, and were circulated together with the new aluminum tokens of 1946-51.

The reason I asked about the "1988 restrikes" is that so far as I can see, WoC is the only authority for their existence. If there are indeed no '88 restrikes, I think we should get rid of these references to them. That way Google can't continue picking them up, and thus inadvertently adding a non-existent piece to the catalog of American sales tax tokens.

v.

[malj1]

I have managed to track down five different [there is also the grey piece above] which does confirm this different token although the 1941 pewter piece is missing here. But whether it was restruck has yet to be confirmed or otherwise.

[villa66]

Note the middle (reddish) piece is a pattern. I think your "pewter" piece is actually grey fiber. And I note the three types I listed were of the center-holed types only, since the "1988 restrike" is center-holed.

There is also another fiber type of 1941, in olive green, but it isn't center-holed. And of course the plastic WWII piece isn't center-holed either.

As to the need for a restrike for the Centennial celebration, I note the aluminum tokens are still common like dirt, nearly a quarter of a century after the souvenir card was issued. I can't imagine going to the trouble to commission a new mintage when they would have been so readily available. But maybe there's info to the contrary? If it's there to be dug up, my experience here says you're the guy that will find it.

v.

[malj1]

Thanks for your kind words, the 'pewter' piece is here at bottom of page. note this does have a centre hole and is probably the one referred to as fibre.

I found a contemporary newspaper article proclaiming the 1988 issue to be replicas.

 

[villa66]

Nice! It wasn't empty flattery. But I do note the newspaper calls them "replicas," while the state revenue director quoted in the article calls them "tokens."

125,000 is mentioned as a quantity, so let's see if it's a new mintage, and who might have accomplished it.

(When I saw one of these cards for sale today it listed the souvenir as a "reissue," but I also note it had a "hold" placed on it, whatever that means.)

I did see the "pewter" piece, but I do think it's the grey fiber. Guess it's time to look for my own examples.

v.

[malj1]

This Sales Tax token from the Tax Commission of Washington State is the same on the front and back and is being sold as the 1946 issue. Would like confirmation of the 1946 issue to be sure this is not in fact the 1988 restrike.

....but I also note it had a "hold" placed on it, whatever that means.)

Maybe they mean it was made with a hole in the centre! i.e. holed