Store Money or Store Tokens, “The First Credit Card”
By Tom Rhodes
Shortly after the Civil War, around 1885, almost every town of any consequential size, in every state in the United States began to use their own ‘store money or “store tokens”. This was a form of advertising, but more importantly, it was the first “credit” system in the United States. At this time in American History, t
he country was an agricultural society. The average person did not have a lot of money, so if they moved to a new town or community, they would go to the General Store and the store keeper would put them on their books for say $100 and give them $95 in their store tokens. The store tokens could only be used in their store, which tied the customer to that store. Tokens were made of many different kind of materials including; paper, celluloid, cardboard, aluminum, fiber, copper, brass vulcanite, and bi-metals of brass or bronze and aluminum. They were in a variety of shapes and sizes. Sizes ranged from larger than a silver dollar to smaller the a dime. Shapes of the various denominations included round, diamond, square, scalloped from four to eight scallops, hexagon, octagon, pentagon, square with clipped corners, square with rounded corners. The cardboard tokens came in a variety of colors including: blue, carmine, gray, black, green, cream, maroon, orange, pink, red, white rose, yellow, and purple. On the front or Obverse of the token sometimes gave information such as the name of the business; address; town; state, etc. On the reverse there was usually an amount written like “Good for 5cts in Trade” Tokens were typically manufactured in the amounts ranging from 1¢,5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1.00, $5.00, and $10.00. The average token order by a merchant was usually 144 sets or one gross. A set usually a nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar, dollar, and five dollar. Some of the larger stores used a one cent, five dollar, and ten dollar tokens also. If there were an eight piece set there would be 125 tokens of each denomination. Some merchants only issued a few denominations (Example: In Kenney, Texas Freitag & Kamas has a set made up of a dime, quarter, and half dollar. Merchants that issued or used tokens included general mercantile, bakeries, saloons, dry goods stores, domino halls, and sawmills. Examples of General Mercantile, Bakery, Saloon, & Sawmill Tokens:
Here are a some of examples of Store Money that was used in the Bonham Area:
Mr. Shropolus ran a general mercantile store in 1905 and 1907 and used tokens in the amounts of 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1.00. The CCC or Civilian Conservation Corps employ hundreds of workers and issued store token
General Mercantile tokens usually said, Good for .. in Trade in amounts of 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, $1.00 that were used in their company store. Bakery token usually said, “ Good for One 5¢ Loaf of Bread”
Saloon tokens usually said, “Good for 5¢, or 10¢, or 6 1/4¢, or 12 1/2¢ or Good for a Drink”. Taylors sometimes gave out tokens for “Good for $1.00 on the Purchase of a $20 Suit”. Sawmills also paid with tokens or script and had their own Company Stores. The tokens paid workers could only be used at the Company’s Store and not anywhere else. That is what eventually brought the extensive use of tokens or store money to an end. The old Tennessee Ernie Ford song, “I Owe My Soul to the Company Store”! is a classic example of how the restricted use of tokens to a particular store or company eventually sounded an end to
use of Store Money.
. . When a merchant decided to go out of business, or to retire their tokens, many times they were destroyed by dumping them into old wells, burying them, mutilating them, burning them, or just letting children use them for play money. If a cowboy on the range needed a button, washer, and a token was handy, it had a hole bored in it and became the needed object. These are some of the reasons for the rarity of surviving tokens today. Store tokens are a historic symbol, and a reminder of the early storekeepers that were the backbone of this nation. They got up early, worked hard, stayed up late, and opened up for emergencies after closing hours. They knew their customers and were some of the most valued, trusted, and respected members of the early communities. (*) ~ I am a retired 41 year educator/historian who has been researching these early businesses in Texas since 1974. I love gathering early pictures and histories of these businesses in addition to collecting representations of their store money. If you have store tokens to sell or trade, please contact me at [email protected]
