John Mutch submitted these coherent thoughts on Idaho Insane Asylum tokens. Thanks! -Editor
Thanks for another great issue of The E-Sylum - they are always a highlight of the weekend! The item about "lunatic asylum
tokens" prompts me to write this.
The attached photos are of the $1 denomination of a set that includes 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1 round aluminum tokens from one of two
such institutions in Idaho. First established by the Idaho Territorial Legislature, the Idaho Insane Asylum received its first patient in
1886 at Blackfoot, Idaho. Due to the geography of Idaho (we are considered by many to have three capitols - Spokane, WA is the one for
North Idaho, Salt Lake City, UT is the one for southeastern Idaho, and Boise is the official one and the capitol of southwestern Idaho and
eastern Oregon), the 1905 State Legislature authorized a second mental hospital, State Hospital North, in Orofino. In 1931, the name of the
Blackfoot institution was changed to State Hospital South, and both the North and South institutions continue to the present.
In March of 1976, I called a gentleman in the business office of State Hospital South to ask about the history of the tokens, only a few
examples of which were in collectors' hands at the time. He said that they were used from prior to 1950 to about 1965 in a manner
somewhat analogous to prison tokens, but with one important difference. It seems that there were a number of unscrupulous attendants (he
called them "Buggers") who worked in mental institutions and would cheat the patients if they had a chance. Patients who either
received money from friends or relatives or earned it from work in the hospital were required to deposit the cash in the business office,
and were issued tokens as needed. The hospital commissary sold candy, tobacco, etc. to both patients and staff, but tokens were only
allowed for patient purchases and cash was the only medium of exchange for non-patients. The reason for using tokens and scrip in prisons
is to prevent inmates from bribing staff.
Idaho's State Hospital North is a much smaller facility and apparently never used tokens.
I almost forgot to mention the backwards $ on the token - crazy, huh?
I totally missed that the first time I saw the photo. I'll bet many of our readers missed that, too. 'Crazy' isn't the
politically correct term, but it's an interesting feature. I didn't know of another such backwards dollar sign on a token.
Probably just an engraver's error, but who knows? Interesting. -Editor
John adds:
In the world of trade tokens where they were made with fewer checks for quality than a modern
mint, backwards letters and symbols are to be found. tokencatalog.com has four pages of results when searched for
"backward".
To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LUNATIC ASYLUM TOKENS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n10a34.html)
Wayne Homren, Editor
The Numismatic Bibliomania Society is a non-profit organization
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