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Central Pacific Railroad Wood Tokens
Central Pacific Railroad Company wood token stamped Engine 62
also known as the "Whirlwind" engine. Token has the number 6 on the
back and does have six notches that have been cut out of the token. As you
can see from the photos, the token does have some residue from being in the
ground well over a century. It came off the eastern Nevada rail line. We've
heard that most of these have come out of Nevada with others showing up in
California and Utah.
Images and description courtesy Ivan & Catherine
Oakeson who also recommend the Utah
bottle collector's website.
Token from the Central Pacific Railroad used for wood. The notches
indicate how many cords of wood the token was good for. There is
an "8" stamped on the reverse of this token. See Bill & Sue Knous'
book "Railroadiana"
pg. 18. ... My friends dug this piece in the Carlin Nevada area. It was
found years ago, it's engine 183 and it has 8 notches cut out. It has an
8 on the back. It's incused and there is some surface corrosion. Also the
back has some black stuff on it, also showing it was in the ground a long
time.
Courtesy Eric Bernkopf Collection.
Another collector advises that "wood tokens are brass or bronze, and
have a rich copper color. Big as a quarter. "C.P.R.R. Co."
is written on one side, the 'periods' are rectangular. On that same
side is the Engine Number, "Engine _____ " On the reverse is the
number of cords, both of his say '6'. There is a 1/4 inch hole in
the center of each token. The notches are not all even, as they were
pinched out with a tool. Value is $50 to $100, lots of fakes around."
Courtesy Chuck
Sweet and G.J. "Chris" Graves.
I've asked, and nobody thinks this is an original cord wood token
... I discussed this with Dave Schenkman, THE expert on cord wood tokens;
his reply to me: "I see nothing to indicate they are wood cord tokens.
In the first place, did engines really take on eight or ten cords at one
time? All known genuine pieces are 1 cord or less (nearly all are less)."
They might be rr tokens of some nature, but it is unlikely they are
cord wood tokens. ... [We assume that if genuine (or an accurate replica) that this would be a
multi-use token with each notch representing a single load, perhaps a cord,
that the "8" on the reverse represented the number of permitted uses, and
that it would be notched once at each use and expire worthless when there
were 8 notches. —CPRR.org] ...
An interesting theory, but complicated. The use of cord wood
tokens was simple: Give the trainmen some tokens, they paid for the wood,
and thesellers could redeem them for cash. Thus, the trainmen had no
cash, the tokens were stamped with engine #s for tracking, and the rr could
trace usage. Your tokens are interesting, but I remain doubtful they
were cordwood tokens. Possibly some other usage?
Courtesy Rich Hartzog, AAA Historical Americana - World Exonumia.
More Central Pacific Railroad Tokens
(these dug up at Terrace, Utah
by the collector's wife)
"10" is stamped
on the reverse
Courtesy Eric Bernkopf Collection.
C.P.R.R. Wood Check Token
A rare token from the Central Pacific Railroad.
This token was
used for a wood check which the engineer had to carry and is good for 6 cords
of wood.
It is brass and about the size of a quarter. It was found medal
detecting.
Courtesy "MrToken" Rex.