Probably everyone reading this knows the song, [i][u]Sixteen Tons[/i][/u]. But most of you probably never lived in a situation where you had to buy from the [i]Company Store[/i]. And I bet most of you would say that this was only something that happened long, long ago.

Actually, up until the fifties, it was pretty common for people to be paid in Company Money. If you worked for one of the southern mills, for one of the Appalachian coal companies, even for many paper mills and railroads, you might have been paid in Company Money. You lived in a house owned by the company and could rent that house as long as you worked there. You went to the company doctor, attended the company school and even the church graveyard was company property and the company could decide whether or not to allow you to be buried there.

Under this system you had no real freedom. Since you had no US currency, even if you could save some money up, it was worthless outside the company town. If you decided to quit your job and go somewhere else, you had to do it with only the food and clothing you could take with you. It was a life not much different than slavery.

For those of you who have never seen [i]company money[/i], here are a few [i][b]mill coins[/I][/b]. Each of these is a dollar coin, but it's clearly marked for merchandise only. Also, each one is marked with a unique cut out for the early mechanical sorters. And each could be used ONLY in one company's store.

The first is from the [i]Community Store in Central, S.C.[/i]

[img]http://www.fototime.com/7945487BD12DCFE/standard.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.fototime.com/FAFDD5FEF73147E/standard.jpg[/img]

This one is from Anderson Mill in Anderson, S.C.

[img]http://www.fototime.com/6CE4E0CF4CCEF25/standard.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.fototime.com/13BB0E2D0806FCF/standard.jpg[/img]

This last one was from the Anderson Chemical and Mercantile Company.

[img]http://www.fototime.com/1D20CA87024FD0F/standard.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.fototime.com/341175D685B396C/standard.jpg[/img]

If you look closely you'll see that it is dated 1941.

Does anyone else have any mill coin or script? They are getting hard to find since most of the coins got melted down for scrap during WWII and the paper script generally hasn't lasted.

Damn, someone could have made a fortune counterfieting those.