EXONUMIA

 

Here's a word you don't hear very often: exonumia. While it sounds like one of those weird names given to new drugs, exonumia is actually a subset of coin collecting. It's a name for the category of tokens, medals and scrip that are not currency but serve rather as promotional or "good for" exchanges. There are hundreds of different types from badges to medallions, tags to challenge coins, souvenir pennies to wooden nickels. It's an interesting category of numismatics and one that generally involves a modest investment to get started. Let's spend a few minutes to see what it's about.

Although the practice of exonumia collecting goes back to well before the Civil War, the name itself is relatively new. The word was coined by collector Russell Rulau in 1960 and its Greek roots translate roughly into "other than coins." In England, the equivalent word is "paranumismatica," but you won't hear that much around here. Anyway, Rulau has long been the reigning authority, and he's authored a number of books on the subject. He describes the category as having three broad components: tokens used in commercial exchange, those commemorating a place or event and those of a personal nature. Given the untidy nature of exonumia as a whole, that's as good a framework as any.

Online sites like eBay are chockablock with commercial or "good for" tokens, and many are interesting. During the Civil War, a scarcity of U.S. coins (especially pennies) prompted many private concerns to issue tokens as placeholders for government coinage. While their usage as currency was outlawed in 1864, they were widely circulated until then, and it is estimated that some 25 million such tokens were minted. There were literally thousands of varieties, nearly all of which represented the equivalent of one U.S. cent. Patriotic tokens also circulated during that time, as did those promoting large retailers. All are catnip for collectors.

To read the complete article, see:
Antiques: Exonumia are coins that aren't really coins (https://www.desertsun.com/story/life/history/2024/06/30/antiques-exonumia-are-coins-that-arent-really-coins-palm-springs-area/74208671007/)

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