Thanks for another great issue of The E-Sylum - they are always a highlight of the weekend! The item about "lunatic asylum tokens" prompts me to write this.

The attached photos are of the $1 denomination of a set that includes 5¢, 10¢, 25¢, 50¢, and $1 round aluminum tokens from one of two such institutions in Idaho. First established by the Idaho Territorial Legislature, the Idaho Insane Asylum received its first patient in 1886 at Blackfoot, Idaho. Due to the geography of Idaho (we are considered by many to have three capitols - Spokane, WA is the one for North Idaho, Salt Lake City, UT is the one for southeastern Idaho, and Boise is the official one and the capitol of southwestern Idaho and eastern Oregon), the 1905 State Legislature authorized a second mental hospital, State Hospital North, in Orofino. In 1931, the name of the Blackfoot institution was changed to State Hospital South, and both the North and South institutions continue to the present.

In March of 1976, I called a gentleman in the business office of State Hospital South to ask about the history of the tokens, only a few examples of which were in collectors' hands at the time. He said that they were used from prior to 1950 to about 1965 in a manner somewhat analogous to prison tokens, but with one important difference. It seems that there were a number of unscrupulous attendants (he called them "Buggers") who worked in mental institutions and would cheat the patients if they had a chance. Patients who either received money from friends or relatives or earned it from work in the hospital were required to deposit the cash in the business office, and were issued tokens as needed. The hospital commissary sold candy, tobacco, etc. to both patients and staff, but tokens were only allowed for patient purchases and cash was the only medium of exchange for non-patients. The reason for using tokens and scrip in prisons is to prevent inmates from bribing staff.

Idaho's State Hospital North is a much smaller facility and apparently never used tokens.

I almost forgot to mention the backwards $ on the token - crazy, huh?

John adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
LUNATIC ASYLUM TOKENS (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v18n10a34.html)