| Author |
 Replies: 23 / Views: 7,742 |
|
New Member
Malaysia
4 Posts |
Hello Coin Community.  I recently came upon quite a few of old coins from my late aunt. Most coins are from the British Colonial era. (The State of North Borneo, The Sarawak Rajah, Strait Settlements and Malayan) But there are two of which I don't recognize at all. Front view  Tenom Rubber Co. Ld. 50 cents and Tenom Rubber Co. Ld. 5 cents Back view.  As you can see, these coins are not dated so I'm a little bit intrigued. Can anyone tell me the information about these coins? I'm not really into coin collecting. I'm just a little bit curious about what these coins are.  Many thanks. Identified - moved to Tokens forum - SapEdited by taragang_saru
11/13/2011 8:40 pm
|
|
|
|
Moderator
 Australia
16830 Posts |
They appear to be plantation tokens from Tenom, North Borneo. I can;t speak to these specific tokens, but the usual situation with tokens such as this was that workers would be partially (or sometimes completely) paid in this "company money", which they could spend at the company store.
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
899 Posts |
You have some nice and fairly valuable tokens. From an auction a few years back the following are prices estimated and the sold price: BRITISH NORTH BORNEO Tenom Rubber Co Ld., 5 Cents M, ND, (unrecorded), uniface, plain edge, scratches, fine, rare. US$120-150 Realised: US$320 Tenom Rubber Co Ld., 5 Cents, ND, (Prid.71; SS.66; Tan NBT27), uniface, plain edge, scratches, very fine. US$120-150 Realised: US$90 Tenom Rubber Co Ld., 50 Cents M, ND (SS.70; Tan NBT29), uniface, plain edge, scratches, octagonal, very fine. US$120-150 Realised: US$160 And....  ...to the forum. Edited by D
11/13/2011 02:50 am
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Thailand
1509 Posts |
Quote:
workers would be partially (or sometimes completely) paid in this "company money", which they could spend at the company store. Now that's an idea. We just sold our first ever batch of latex from our plantation. Maybe I'll open a company store next and have some tokens made.  |
|
New Member
 Malaysia
4 Posts |
@Sap The workers weren't allowed to used these money elsewhere then? Quite a way to manipulate them in my opinion. @D Yowzer! Thank you for that info.  I have no idea of the values for these coins before. To think that I almost gave them away to my friend for free.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
quote: "The workers weren't allowed to used these money elsewhere then? Quite a way to manipulate them in my opinion."
- yes, companies were accused of manipulating prices at the store.
No-one would work on such terms if there were a choice, so this form of employment was only possible in isolated locations.
when the employee left, his tokens, or scrip (paper money) was worthless, and he had no savings.
You might have heard a 1955 song, by Tennessee Ernie Ford - "sixteen Tons".
In the chorus, the coal miner laments that "I owe my soul to the company store."
Johnny CASH covered the same song:
http://(Offsite URL shortening not allowed) /jIfu2A0ezq0
http://(Offsite URL shortening not allowed) /2Dz_GvA7Uck
isn't it great how numismatics intersects employment-law and music ?
|
|
Moderator
Australia
16830 Posts |
Quote:
The workers weren't allowed to used these money elsewhere then? Quite a way to manipulate them in my opinion. It wasn't so much the workers "weren't allowed" to spend them elsewhere, but it would have been difficult for them to do so, even if there were other stores nearby they could try to spend them at - and in the early 1900s, there probably wouldn't have been. And, of course, if all your money is plantation currency, you can't simply decide to pack up and leave, since the tokens certainly wouldn't have been accepted anywhere outside North Borneo. Plantation labour was indeed a manipulative and exploitative system, not too much better than outright slavery. This 1913 Straits Times article summarizes the Tenom Rubber Company's seventh annual general meeting, at which the benefits of importing Chinese versus Malay workers was compared - Chinese were considered more expensive, but they worked harder. This 1915 article, the ninth AGM, boasts of the company's high profits, low death-rate for their workers and how their "estates are, fortunately, very popular with the Borneo natives". One wonders if their attitude changed after the Rundum Uprising of the local Murut people against the British colonists in that year. Back-calculating the AGM dates, the company would have been founded in 1906 - making that the earliest possible date for the tokens. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
|
|
New Member
New Caledonia
31 Posts |
Hello Taragang, That's a nice surprise when you get some coins/tokens from youre aunt  . As you wrote most of the coins are from the British Colonial era. These two tokens as well. As somebody already wrote these ara two plantation tokens of The Tenom Rubber Co. Limited a plantation that was located on British North Borneo. You don't see them so often. Sometimes they also have number/countermark on the back side of the coin. Some of them you can see on: http://www.plantagegeld.nl/index.php?paginaid=5*** Edited by Staff - Please Review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. ***Sincerely Koenmunten |
|
New Member
Malaysia
4 Posts |
@ Peter THOMASQuote:
In the chorus, the coal miner laments that "I owe my soul to the company store." Yes, I've heard of that phrase before. I was watching a Pawn Stars recently and they talked about having these tokens back in the days in the coal mine. It's interesting to know that similar types of tokens were used elsewhere as well. @ SapThat's very informative. Thank you very much.  It is a pretty weird feeling after realising what these tokens were used for. Who knows, maybe my ancestors were once paid using this particular token. (I'm a descendant of the native people in North Borneo by the way ) *** Edited by Staff - Please Review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. ***Quote:
Sometimes they also have number/countermark on the back side of the coin. Yes, I've noticed that and also all of them have punch hole based on the picture I've seen. Whereas mine have neither. Can you tell me why? |
|
New Member
New Caledonia
31 Posts |
Hello *** Edited by Staff - Please Review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. ***Quote:
Sometimes they also have number/countermark on the back side of the coin.
Yes, I've noticed that and also all of them have punch hole based on the picture I've seen. Whereas mine have neither. Can you tell me why?...I don't know for sure why some tokens have letters/numbers and why the are holed... Some people think they are used as identification tokens for the people that working at the plantation. On of the numbers my be for the (part of) the plantion and the other number for the worker. They might be holes because it's more easy to wear them and/or to make it more easy to keep tokens together f.e. together on a string. There are also token known from different plantation that are holed but without numbers... sincerely koenmunten |
|
Valued Member
United States
117 Posts |
Interesting post. Thanks for the history lesson!  |
|
Moderator
Australia
16830 Posts |
Quote:Yes, I've noticed that and also all of them have punch hole based on the picture I've seen. Whereas mine have neither. Can you tell me why? It's my understanding that, after the use of tokens was discontinued, the plantation recycled them for a non-monetary purpose by numbering and hole-punching them. Given that they almost always seem to be both holed and numbered, they were probably "tool checks". I believe the system worked like this: each worker would be given a number, and when they took tools (things you'd need to work on a rubber plantation, like machetes, saws, shovels etc) to go out into the field, a check with that worker's number would be hung up via the hole on a board identifying the tool. That way, if a tool was missing at the end of the day, the company would know which worker had been given that tool. Or it might work by giving each tool a number, and hanging the checks on a board with each worker's name. On that basis, the tokens found with numbers and holes are "recycled" tool checks. Un-holed and un-numbered tokens are still in their original "token" state, and are probably more valuable for that reason. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
|
|
Pillar of the Community
Australia
2830 Posts |
quote: " they took tools (things you'd need to work on a rubber plantation, like machetes, saws, shovels etc) to go out into the field"
- and most important of all, the snake-bite kit with antivenom for the Cobra, which some clever planter introduced to Malaysia, in order to suppress the rat population.
|
|
New Member
New Caledonia
31 Posts |
Hello Sap, I just tried to send you an e-mail, but that's not allowed for new members... strange... this is really a very defensive forum So I have to ask my question now in the open forum... I saw my message was modified... *** Edited by Staff - Please Review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. ***But when it is not allowed to write that on the forum, how can I arrange that in a correct manner? sincerely, Koen |
|
New Member
New Caledonia
31 Posts |
Hello Sap,
That's a nice theory/idea about the tools check for witch the tokens might be used. Were did you find/read that?
|
|
Moderator
Australia
16830 Posts |
Quote:
I just tried to send you an e-mail, but that's not allowed for new members... strange... this is really a very defensive forum
But when it is not allowed to write that on the forum, how can I arrange that in a correct manner?Yes, we're very protective of our new members, both those trying to buy and those trying to sell. Sorry, but buying, selling and trading or mentioning your wish to engage in such is only allowed in the buy-sell-trade section, and only for those members who have reached a certain number of posts. It's all in the rules, as linked above. Hang around and contribute positively to the forum, and you can post trade or sale requests. Quote:
Hello Sap,
That's a nice theory/idea about the tools check for witch the tokens might be used. Were did you find/read that? I don't know for sure about these tokens, but I know it is certainly the case with similar holed-and-numbered items used elsewhere, including here in Australia. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
|
| |
Replies: 23 / Views: 7,742 |
Posted 11/13/2011 02:50 am
