"Cahokia Tavern" Token

[sideshowbob]

I dug this in my South Saint Louis backyard. I haven't been able to find any other examples .

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[idahotokens]

Bob--I'm going to guess it is from Cahokia, IL, just across the river from you, but it is not listed in the IL book (which is woefully outdated) or on tokencatalog.com. It appears to be one of the St. Louis-made part-incuse tokens. Are the words Cahokia and Tavern incused? And in the center is Good For / 5¢ / In Trade in raised letters? The reverse side may either be blank or might carry the name of the maker.
John in the Great 208

 

[sideshowbob]

The coin was so encrusted I did a 5 minute bath in hot hydrogen peroxide. Broke the crisp off well. I'm new to the hobby and I hope I didn't mess the coin up by cleaning it up enough to read. I dampened the coin to to see it better.

 

[sideshowbob]

The back is blank. Thank you for responding. This is my first post

 

[idahotokens]

Thanks, Bob - to my way of thinking and some may disagree, it is better to judiciously clean things so you can see what you have. Doesn't apply to valuable coins, etc., but for most dug coins and tokens it does. The thought that this is from Cahokia, IL is based on that name being on the tavern and its proximity to where it was found. I have some post WWII business directories and will see if I can find a listing there for it. The problem is that many of those directories go by the proprietor's name, rather than the name of the business.
John in the Great 208

 

[idahotokens]

The 1946 Dun & Bradstreet lists three businesses in Cahokia: Double B Tavern, a service station, and Marie Vorus - Tavern & Night Club. The 1952 directory shows that Cahokia was by then included in East St. Louis. Out of curiosity, I found that Marie Voruz died at age 93 less than a year ago at Swansea, IL. Anyway, bottom line is that I didn't find any proof that the Cahokia Tavern was actually in Cahokia, IL, but I'd give it a 90% probability of being from there and almost a 100% probability of being from within 10 miles of there.
John in the Great 208

 

[sideshowbob]

Turning out to be an interesting glimpse into local history. I've had this coin for a few weeks and had futilely tried to find some info on it. One evening and one post and the answers spillith over

 

[sideshowbob]

Here are a couple better shots.