Interesting broken token

TommyJay · Apr 25, 2018

I went over to a softball quad today for a 1.5 hour hunt. The weather was great, and no one was there.....just the way I like it! Ive been gridding around this one field finding mostly clad and pop tabs, when I dug this rectangular aluminum thing that was crushed in half, mangled, and had some writing on it. I pounded it out between wood when I got home, cleaned it up, and saw that it was a 5 cent trade token.

Im guessing that it says "Take me to the Bism(arck) on one side, and "Good for 5 cents in trade (at the) Gieb Rich". I tried to search for it online to no avail, so Im not sure how old it was, or if it has something to do with that town in North Dakota. It looks like someone poked a hole in the corner as a pendant, but its too bad the other corner is gone. Ive never seen a rectangular token like this before.

Thanks for looking, and HH!

GeneralQuarters · Apr 25, 2018

TJ, That's a very odd token. If it's from Bismark it must be quite rare. WTG!

AirmetTango · Apr 26, 2018

TommyJay said:
Im guessing that it says "Take me to the Bism(arck) on one side, and "Good for 5 cents in trade (at the) Gieb Rich". I tried to search for it online to no avail, so Im not sure how old it was, or if it has something to do with that town in North Dakota.

Cool find TommyJay!

It looks like the token might be from Burlington, Iowa. I found a reference for it at tokencatalog.com, here. Yours looks like it's the "Louie Giebrick" version, with the "IE" in "LOUIE" still visible. I think the catalog has the spelling for "Bismarck" wrong - piecing the clues together, a Google search for Giebrick Bismarck brought up 2 newspaper pages from the Burlington Evening Gazette from 1897 that have ads for The Bismarck that include the name Giebrick. The Bismarck in the ad appears to have been a saloon or bar which fits for the token, and was located at 117 North Main in Burlington. I took a peek on Google Earth, and the address is just a parking lot now - but the surrounding buildings definitely fit the 1890s-1900s time frame. There's also a reference in the Gazette from 1909 about selling a piano: "FOR SALE—A Stuyvesant Cabinet Grand piano. In good condition. A bargain. See L. Giebrick, 117 N. Main street". Lastly, there's a Louie Giebrick who was interred at the Burlington Memorial Park in Iowa in 1950 - if it's the same guy, it looks like he lived into his 80s, assuming he was about 30 when he owned the saloon.

Cool find and unique token! I just love tokens for the interesting history each one represents! I wonder how it ended up in your neck of the woods from Iowa??

You can probably submit a photo of it to Tokencatalog - it looks like they'd love to have one!

TommyJay · Apr 27, 2018

GeneralQuarters said:
TJ, That's a very odd token. If it's from Bismark it must be quite rare. WTG!

Thanks, and I hope so!

AirmetTango said:
Cool find TommyJay!

It looks like the token might be from Burlington, Iowa. I found a reference for it at tokencatalog.com, here. Yours looks like it's the "Louie Giebrick" version, with the "IE" in "LOUIE" still visible. I think the catalog has the spelling for "Bismarck" wrong - piecing the clues together, a Google search for Giebrick Bismarck brought up 2 newspaper pages from the Burlington Evening Gazette from 1897 that have ads for The Bismarck that include the name Giebrick. The Bismarck in the ad appears to have been a saloon or bar which fits for the token, and was located at 117 North Main in Burlington. I took a peek on Google Earth, and the address is just a parking lot now - but the surrounding buildings definitely fit the 1890s-1900s time frame. There's also a reference in the Gazette from 1909 about selling a piano: "FOR SALE—A Stuyvesant Cabinet Grand piano. In good condition. A bargain. See L. Giebrick, 117 N. Main street". Lastly, there's a Louie Giebrick who was interred at the Burlington Memorial Park in Iowa in 1950 - if it's the same guy, it looks like he lived into his 80s, assuming he was about 30 when he owned the saloon.

Cool find and unique token! I just love tokens for the interesting history each one represents! I wonder how it ended up in your neck of the woods from Iowa??

You can probably submit a photo of it to Tokencatalog - it looks like they'd love to have one!

Thanks, its hard to tell what the last letter is, but it looked like an H. Upon further review I believe its a K. Thats why I probably couldnt find anything about it. I agree, Id rather find an old token than a merc, unless its rare! It had no business being where I found it, so Im thinking that it was brought in as fill. The area where I live was settled in the mid 1890s, so it probably arrived in the pocket of a homesteader making his way out here. The stories it could tell!

Semtav · May 11, 2018

you're really into the oddball finds this year.

zeemang · May 11, 2018

That's a killer token man, wow!

emesis · May 11, 2018

i once found a smokin broken token in hoboken

brncofan · May 11, 2018

very cool token

MDDM · May 13, 2018

emesis said:
i once found a smokin broken token in hoboken

Are you jokin'?

Interesting broken token

TommyJay

GeneralQuarters

Elite Member

AirmetTango

TommyJay

Semtav

Elite Member

zeemang

emesis

Full Member

brncofan

Elite Member

MDDM

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