HISTORICAL COMMENTS BY GEORGE CHEVALLIER

Canning house tokens of H. B. Kennerly & Son

NANTICOKE, MARYLAND

These tokens were used to pay the workers in the canneries years ago. They began using tokens for payment in the 1860’s and continued up into the 1950’s. These particular tokens were used beginning in 1941, which was after the government banned the use of tokens due to the unsanitary conditions caused by using them. The last year they were legal to use was 1937 or 1938. Many canners said they stopped using them because in the 1940’s, the going rate for skinning a bucket of tomatoes was five cents and they could just use nickels and not have the expense of buying tokens. The value of each token to the worker was either three or four cents prior to this. This pay rate lasted from the 1890’s up to about 1940. However, H. B. Kennerly, Jr. told me that he recalled they paid $.20 for each token. When I told him that seemed like a large amount since a good skinner could skin 100 buckets in a day and that $20.00 was a lot of money in 1941, he said that very few people could hit the 100 bucket mark. He also indicated that their bucket held four times what a regular 16 quart bucket held. This would make it five cents for a regular 16 quart bucket, the going rate at the time. This would also make for a very heavy bucket.

One token was issued for every 16 quart bucket of tomatoes the worker skinned up into the 1940’s. The tomatoes were first subjected to a “lye bath”, which loosened the skin and made removing the core with a “coring knife” easier. Many workers were employed by more than one cannery, working at one in the morning and going to another in the afternoon. They could generally skin about one hundred buckets a day. This was good money for the time, but they earned every penny of it. The tokens were turned in for cash from the canner at the end of the week. Many times the canner had a small general store in the area and would take the tokens as payment. Sometimes other stores in the area would accept a canner’s tokens for payment.

Even though the Kennerlys made a name for themselves later in the oyster business, these tokens were never used for that purpose. Many are sold today as “oyster shucking tokens”, but they were never used for that purpose. These are tomato tokens. Generally, oyster tokens command a higher price than tomato tokens because there were fewer oyster houses.

These are a very common token and if anyone wants one, I will gladly give them one. I obtained every one Mr. Kennerly had (about 4,000). There were four distinct strikings of the Kennerly tokens. They are pictured above and described below in the order they are pictured:

TYPE I TYPE II TYPE III TYPE IV

(large “1”) (large “1” w/hole) (small “1”) ( small “ & “ )