Pageton, WV Page Coal & Coke Co. 1 Exploder Coal "Scrip" - Very Fine or Better

Obverse: PAGE COAL & COKE CO. / 1 / EXPLODER / PAGETON, WV (Cutout E)

Reverse: Blank

Explosive control tokens have long been collected along with coal mine company store scrip. However, they are not actually scrip. They were issued for a specific purpose and could not be used to purchase general merchandise at coal mine company stores. Rather, they played an important and practical role in the issuance of explosives. The system was very simple. When a miner needed explosives he was given (or sold) tokens with an appropriate "good for" value (for example, "Good For One Stick Powder"). He took these to the place where explosives were stored and there the tokens were redeemed. If he needed detonating devises, fuses, etc., he had to go to another location as, for safety reasons, explosives and detonation devices were never stored at the same place.