Colorful History of Horsecar Tokens
Editor’s Note: For nearly 70 years, the feature-rich pages of Coins magazine, Numismatic News’ venerable sister publication, have tracked the history, fun and the growth of this great hobby, while also attracting new collectors to pursue what was once deemed the “hobby of kings.” Dusting off these time-aged issues, from the early 1960s and beyond, each installment of “Past Times with Coins,” written by its former longtime editor, explores what nuggets of interest they contain.
Famed token authority John M. Coffee Jr., whose column in Coins magazine explored the various transportation tokens a collector could find and collect, took a deep dive into horsecar tokens in his column in the February 1964 issue.
“Of all transportation tokens, perhaps the most nostalgic and interesting are those which were used for fare on the horse-drawn streetcars of the last century,” he wrote, referring to the 1800s. “The horsecar reigned for 50 years as the chief means of urban transportation in this country, and we are indebted to it for the growth of
