I am puzzled with the small w on this token what is it?

[nova]

I am darn close (I think) to attributing this token to Price, Utah Carbon County The small w on the reverse has got me. What is it the makers mark. Some tokens from Utah will have a sl stamp co mark. So I,m wondering if there was a Canton Cafe in Washington State.

 

[Felinepeachy]

Do you know the approximate year the cafe was there?

 

[nova]

Do you know the approximate year the cafe was there?

I found the info in the Utah Gazetteer and it was around 1919-1924

 

[Felinepeachy]

Okay, what does this mean or say on the Utah Gazetteer? Maybe an abbreviation of that.

 

[idahotokens]

Everything I have seen leads me to believe that the "W" on the reverse is really just an ornament (a "dingbat" as some folks call them) that was commonly used by the Albert Pick Company of Chicago. They also used a miner's pick ornament, the bowtie looking ornament on the obverse, and a backslashed c as a ¢ sign. The Pick company made a lot of tokens that were used in Idaho, so I have to believe that they sold a lot for use in Utah as well.

John in ID

 

[idahotokens]

The WAS that was circled on the gazetteer was the name of telephone exchange - "Wasatch". The letters "WA" are 92 and they are the first two digits of the 7-digit phone number. Back in the day, it was felt that seven digits were too many for the human mind to remember, so Ma Bell came to the conclusion that a name and 5 numbers were much better. This practice was common in the east and in big cities, but rural towns in the west often did not get dial exchanges until 1950 or so, so they only needed a few digits for a number. "Operator, ring 066 J4"
John in ID

 

[nova]

Thanks,
John

 

[idahotokens]

Oh, and BTW, that token has been attributed to Shoshone, ID by Frank Schell (author of the first ID book) and that attribution has been carried forward by Hollis Pincock's and Richard Hansen's Idaho listings, but none of them have offered any proof. Schell often attributed mavericks based on where he obtained them and I know he got a lot of tokens in Shoshone. I have never found evidence that there was a Canton Cafe there. There was a business by that name in Pocatello, but I am sure that name was a fairly common one. Other than this UT Gazetteer, what indication do you have that it may be from Price?
John in ID

 

[nova]

That is the only proof I have.

 

[idahotokens]

I'm afraid this one may never be proven unless somebody comes finds a bunch of them in the foundations of a building that used to house a "Canton Cafe". A quick check for "canton cafe" at newspaperbank.com shows 798 results - Duluth, Bremerton, Boise, Seattle, Rockford, IL, etc., etc. Like I say, it was a popular name.
John in ID