If you go to eBay and search on "Good For 2 1/2 cts." (description
search) you will also see some examples (from St. Louis) used for
billiards.  I have one of that denomination myself that was used in the
company store of a reindeer processing operation in Alaska.  I suspect
that the "S.H." is the key.  My best guess would be that it was
associated with company store of the mine.

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Cathy Spude
Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2011 1:53 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Tax Token Question

Hi All:

It is my opinion that you all might be going down the wrong path here. A

2-1/2 cent token makes much more sense in a saloon than in a brothel or
a 
bordello. Beer was traditionally five cents, as was a cigar, whereas a
trick 
was usually four bits up to a dollar depending on the class of the place

(much more, of course for the high spenders). A 2-1/2 cent token would
get a 
man in the door of a saloon on the promise of half a beer or half a
cigar, 
but a twentieth of a trick? Hmmmm......  Well, I suppose you could save
them 
up......

I've worked with both brothel and saloon collections (see my article in
the 
2005 January issue of HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY) and I've seen lots of
5-cent 
and 25-cent tokens in saloon collections in the 20th century; the
brothel 
collections tend to have higher value tokens, 25 cents, 50 cents, even a

dollar.

The Sandpoint Collection would indeed be a good comparative collection,
but 
my guess is that the 2-1/2 cent tokens would have been issued by the 
saloons, not the brothels.

For what it is worth .....



 
Catherine Holder Spude, PhD
7 Avenida Vista Grande #145
Santa Fe, NM 87508
505-466-1476 home
505-913-1326 cell

"Life is not tried, it is merely survived if you are standing outside
the 
fire," Jenny Yates and Garth Brooks.