DAVID PROSKEY AND THE PROSKEY BROS. CARDBOARD CHITS

The Internet auction title described the item being offered for sale as “Proskey Bros. Cardboard Chit Silver Springs, Maryland Shingle Mill.” In the description section there was no additional information, or any basis for the attribution. But, I knew immediately that the token wasn’t from Maryland. Silver Springs is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and I doubt that there were ever any shingle mills in that area.

I was familiar with the token, even though I had never actually seen one. I first learned of it when a pair of them -- a five cents and a twenty-five cents denomination -- was listed in the 1985 Bowers and Merena sale of the Russell B. Patterson collection. I don’t recall whether I placed a bid, but if so I wasn’t the winner of the lot.

Later, as Lot 5740 of the November, 2007 Smythe & Co. sale, two denominations ($1.00 and $5.00) of rectangular cardboard punch cards from the Proskey Brothers Store of Silver Springs, Florida were offered for sale. They are undated, but probably postdate the round cardboard tokens.

C. R. Clark’s reference, Florida Tokens, lists the round cardboard tokens with the following note: “the handstamp used to print information about the issuer was too large for the tokens. By combining information stamped on the 5 and 25, the 5 appears to read as follows: PROSKEY BROS. / MERCHANDISE / APR. 9 – 1886 / AND SHINGLE MILL / SILVER SPRINGS, FLA.” Clark gives the size as 35mm; my token is definitely 36mm.

The exact obverse inscription on my recently acquired token (taking into account the fact that not all of the rubber stamped lettering is readable) is probably THIS CHECK IS GOOD FOR / IN GOODS / AT THE STORE OF / PROSKEY BROS. / MERCHANDISE / MAY 6 1886 / AND SHINGLE MILL / SILVER SPRINGS, FLA. (the last five lines are rubber-stamped) / FIVE CENTS. The reverse is FIVE CENTS / 5 / NOT TRANSFERABLE.

My token is blue cardboard, while the twenty-five cents denomination listed by Clark is yellow. The last digit of the year is not readable on my piece, but I assume it is a 6. The month and day are definitely May and 6; Clark gives the date as April 9, which I don’t question, although I find it odd that the company would have had two different dates of rubber stamps made.

The famous coin dealer, David Proskey, who died in 1929, was part of the Proskey Brothers family. He evidently operated his coin business from the lumber company’s office. I found an interesting piece of correspondence on the PGCS website, dated June 4, 1884 from David, who was “writing from the office of Proskey Brothers, manufacturers of yellow pine lumber and cypress shingles, and general storekeepers, 4448 River Street, Patterson, New Jersey.” It was addressed to T. Harrison Garrett, and Proskey included rubbings of “four rare copper colonials recently dug up on a farm in this state. Each is for sale at the price marked, with a full guarantee of genuineness.”

Wayne Homren, Editor

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