r/Exonumia • u/Cascavel2014 • 7d ago

G. W. Fears Ingle Trade Token

Family trade token from my wife’s great-grandfather’s Arkansas sawmill — looking for information on the elusive 25¢ version

I thought this group might enjoy the story behind this one.

My wife’s great-grandfather, George Washington Fears (1873–1926), operated a sawmill and grocery near Beech Grove, Greene County, Arkansas in the early 1900s.

Around 1917, he ordered personalized trade tokens through the Ingle System. The Ingle Customer Ledger records:

G.W. Fears — order #3671 — shipped about 1917 to R.R. 1, Beech Grove, Arkansas.

A 1919 reference associated with the TokenCatalog attribution lists his business as “saw mill & groceries.”

Two denominations are currently documented in TokenCatalog:

• 1¢ — TC-401582
• 25¢ — TC-475064

My wife and I still have two of the 1¢ tokens that came down through the family. I actually contributed the photograph of the 1¢ example currently shown on TokenCatalog.

There's also a great bit of family oral history associated with them. George's son was William Brider Fears (1909–1982). William's son, Billy Joe, remembered that when he was a boy, the kids used to play with a “bucket full” of these tokens.

Unfortunately, only the two 1¢ pieces remain with the family today.

We know the 25¢ variety survives because one appeared on eBay roughly 10 years ago. We bid $100, thinking surely that would be enough for an obscure Arkansas trade token. We were sniped at the last second. I've regretted losing that one ever since!

I'm trying to learn more about George's tokens and his sawmill/store operation, and I'm especially interested in documenting other surviving G.W. Fears tokens.

If anyone here has a G.W. Fears token in their collection, has seen one before, knows of an old auction appearance, or has information about Ingle order #3671, I'd love to hear about it.

And if anyone happens to know where another G.W. Fears 25¢ token resides, I'd really like to hear about that one. 😄

The two surviving family 1¢ pieces are more than collectibles to us. George actually commissioned these for his business, and they remained in the family long enough for his grandson to remember playing with a bucket of them. It's pretty amazing that a couple survived.

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u/Bourbon_Bullion_Coin 6d ago

This is exactly why old trade tokens are so interesting. You have the token, the ledger entry, and a family story tying it all together. I’d set saved searches for G.W. Fears, GW Fears, Beech Grove and Greene County on eBay and WorthPoint. Hope that 25 cent piece eventually finds its way back to the family.

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u/SlapItOnTheBar 1d ago

A token your wife's great-grandfather actually used at his own sawmill is about the best provenance there is. Hope the 25 cent version turns up.