Category Archives: CCC

Civilian Conservation Corps

CCC Token eBay Sales in 2020

For the second year in a row, I’ve tracked the sales of all CCC tokens on eBay. What follows is summary information for those token sales in 2020. See last year’s numbers here.

Number Sold68
Total Value$7,923
Average Price$117
Sale FrequencyEvery 5.4 days

The least expensive token sold for $18. It was a 5 cent piece from Company 1754, McGregor, Iowa. The most expensive one sold for $567. It was a 5 cent piece from Company 4471, Bishopville, South Carolina.

A total of 37 different denominations and companies were sold last year. The reference catalog says there are 288 different pieces in the series, so only 13 percent were available for sale this year on eBay.

This table shows the number of tokens sold from some of the most common tokens:

Number of SalesCompanyLocation
11Company 1754Mcgregor, Iowa
7Company 1455Unicoi, Tennessee
5Company 610Stockton, Illinois
4Company 1780Mt Nebo, Arkansas

There were 16 sales with a sales price of $200 or more.

DateDenominationCompanyPrice
1/1/20205 centsCompany 1501$250
1/12/20205 centsCompany 2719$207
2/22/20205 centsCompany 6419$275
3/1/202010 centsCompany 1455$233
3/15/20205 centsCompany 2315$253
3/20/202010 centsCompany 769$286
3/22/20205 centsCompany NF 7$253
6/13/20205 centsCompany 4471$567
7/11/20205 centsCompany 725$228
7/14/202010 centsCompany 770$340
10/12/2020Bottle DepositCompany 2605$358
10/18/20205 centsCompany P 59$353
10/30/20205 centsCompany 2501$207
11/15/202010 centsCompany 770$316
11/21/202010 centsCompany 1455$293
12/13/20201 GameCompany 3760$267

Camp Hedges, Arkansas

This brass token was used by members of the CCC stationed at Camp Hedges in Stone County, Arkansas. The coins reads:

CAMP HEDGES / 743 / CCC
GOOD FOR / 5 ¢ / IN TRADE

No other denominations are known from Company 743. These tokens are scarce. According to my records, only one example was sold on eBay in 2019 or 2020.

Hedges is an historic community in the Ozark National Forest. The camp was built during the Great Depression as part of the New Deal. The Civilian Conservation Corp program provided jobs for young men.

Camp Hedges built roads, bridges, dams, trails, and campgrounds. Some of that infrastructure still stands today, including Gunner Pool dam. Camp members also fought forest fires and did conservation work in the Sylamore District of the national forest.

References: https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net and Manderscheid catalog of CCC tokens (see references).

Whitewater, New Mexico Camp

This rare CCC token is from Whitewater, New Mexico, camp 2846. Whitewater is a small community in Grant County in southwest New Mexico. It features a cool, semi-arid climate.

There were two camps in Whitewater, one in 1936 and then another in 1938. Both worked on soil conservation projects.

The round token is small, only 20 mm in diameter. It is made from aluminum. It was used for playing billiards.

One side of the token reads:
GOOD FOR / 1 / GAME OF POOL

The other side reads:
COMPANY / 2846 / CCC

Jerome, Arizona, Paper Chit

I saw this paper chit on eBay. It looks to me like an original medium of exchange used during the CCC period from Arizona. I bid on it, but did not win. It sold on August 2, 2020, for $24 US.

Jerome is a small town in central Arizona between Phoenix and Flagstaff. The CCC Legacy website does not list a camp from Jerome, but there were camps in nearby Clarkdale, Prescott and Flagstaff.

I did a little reading and found that chits are official notes showing an amount of money that is owed or has been paid. This piece represented credit for two shows at a theater in Jerome, and the chit was only valid for CCC workers.

eBay item number: 203050460365

Nature’s New Deal by Neil Maher

I just finished reading Nature’s New Deal by Neil Maher. Maher examines the history of the New Deal and Civilian Conservation Corps. He shows how Franklin D. Roosevelt’s policies implemented during the CCC contributed to today’s environmental movement and helped pull America out of the depression. It has clear writing and is well researched. Unfortunately, there are is no mention of CCC tokens.

CCC Camp Exchange Scrip

This paper booklet served as another form of currency for workers in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Scrip like this allowed workers to borrow money against their salary and then use the scrip tokens at the company store.

The following photos show what the inside scrip tickets look like. There are 20 of the 5-cent pieces.

This website is a good reference for Depression era scrip: http://www.depressionscrip.com/

2019 CCC Token Prices from eBay

I tracked the sale of every CCC token I could find on eBay in 2019. Most pieces are uncommon, especially compared to federal coins from the United States, and only a few are commonly found.

Total Number Sold66
Total Prices$5,087
Average Price$77
SaleEvery 5.5 days

The least expensive example sold for $7, a corroded 10-cent token from company 1774 in Rochester, Minnesota.

The most expensive token sold for $308. This 25-cent piece was used by company 1471 in Jamestown, Tennessee.

All of these pieces sold for $200 or more:

DateDenominationCompanyPrice
4/2/201925 CentCompany 557$280
4/14/20195 CentCompany 1501$200
6/26/20195 CentCompany 321$208
7/8/201925 CentCompany 1676$234
10/27/201925 CentCompany 1471$298
11/10/20195 CentCompany 1471$253
11/17/201925 CentCompany 1471$308

The most common example sold was a 5-cent token from company 1754 in McGregor, Iowa. There were nine transactions in 2019 with an average price of $29.

My example of the 5-cent piece from Company 1754

Conserving a Token

I recently acquired this 10 cent token from Company 3747 in Paris, Missouri. It has a few spots of environmental damage and some crud on it. I decided it needed conservation. The environmental damage could not be reversed, but the rest of the piece looks much nicer.

This is what the piece originally looked like:

Here is the token after conservation:

I soaked the token in Acetone and, under a stereo microscope, used blackberry thorns to dislodge the dirt and crud.

Thorns are great tools for this type of coin conservation. They have very fine points and are soft enough not to scratch the coin (if you’re careful). A friend suggested rose thorns work better, but I have more blackberry bushes in my neighborhood than roses.

Wisconsin 5 Cent Token

This token belonged to veterans CCC company 1680 of Wisconsin. The Manderscheid reference for CCC tokens says this piece was likely used by the camp near the town of Phelps.

One side of the token reads, “V-1680TH CO. / C.C.C.” with four stars.

The other side of the token reads, “GOOD FOR 5¢ IN TRADE.” There are 5 cent and 10 cent tokens from this camp.

The token reference and the CCC Legacy website indicate this company was located at four places in Wisconsin: Bloomington, Phelps, Blackwell, and Evansville. Archives of the company’s “Warvet” newspaper indicate it was a veteran’s company with work projects across the region.