Collectible Kindling

by Dave Provost

My ongoing pursuit of interesting numismatic commemoratives often leads me down paths that I never thought I would travel. I'm frequently tempted to stray from my core collections when I come across a collectible that is related somehow to one of my primary interests. Case in point, commemorative wooden money flats.

It all started very innocently a year or so back when I came across a wooden nickel flat that commemorated an event that was also commemorated by a national commemorative medal produced by the U.S. Mint. Congress authorized a medal for the town of Greenwich, Connecticut to help it celebrate its 300th anniversary. In addition to the medal, the local anniversary committee also had produced a wooden nickel flat as a fundraiser and souvenir of the town's celebrations. Of course, once I had one piece in my possession, I began to search out others.

Wooden money was originally born out of necessity. When the Citizen's Bank of Tenino, Washington failed in 1931, the local merchants lost their source of small change. The next nearest bank was too far away to be convenient for the Tenino businesses (more than 30 miles over ill-suited mountain roads), so the town's Chamber of Commerce approved the issuance of a local currency. The small denomination currency was printed on small, flat pieces of wood by the local newspaper. With the issuance of this "money," a local crisis was averted and a new form of currency was born!

Other early issues of wooden money also served very utilitarian purposes (i.e., they were produced to meet the needs of local commerce). Eventually, however, the medium was "corrupted" and became a common form of commemorative "souvenir money" produced by cities and towns for local anniversaries, celebrations, fairs and other similar events. After the J.R. Rogers Company of Fostoria, Ohio received a copyright for its wooden money design in 1938, the use of the pieces exploded and became a common component of local celebrations across the country.

Most of the wooden flats are rectangular in shape, measuring about four inches long and two and one-half inches wide. They typically have printing on both sides and most are printed in one color. I've got pieces printed in green, blue, black, brown, orange, and red in my collection so far. When a town's flats were issued in multiple denominations, a different color was often used to distinguish between them.

The obverse of each piece typically carries the denomination and name of the commemorative event. The reverse usually carried the instructions for redemption and some information about the event or group sponsoring it. The design quality of the pieces varies greatly - from simple, mostly text designs to more complex multi-graphic layouts.

The pieces were typically redeemable for cash at local banks and businesses. However, they almost always carried an expiration date for redemption (often tied directly to the conclusion of the celebratory events). Once the date passed, the woods became nothing more than souvenirs. The birth of the phrase "Don't take any wooden nickels!" can be tied directly to the expiring nature of these commemorative pieces.

I've found a few other flats that have direct tie-ins to my commemorative coin and medal collections, and I've come across a bunch for a variety of city and town centennial, sesquicentennial, etc celebrations. I don't have very many of the woods as of yet, maybe 15 or 20, but they've already added a nice new dimension to my commemorative collections.

I've included a few images of North Carolina related wood flats that I've come across so far. I know there are others, so you probably haven't heard the last from me on the topic of wooden money commemoratives (AKA "Collectible Kindling").

Happy Collecting!

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