CHINA 1940 (during Japanese Occupation) Coal Mining Aluminum Token 300 Cash, Diameter 29mm, AU, BWS Collection. The obverse says YU YOK COAL MINING CO. TAYEH 300 and additional Chinese meaning below which means that the token was used in the mine and not outside. The miner show this token when he enter the mine to prove that he works in the mine. The reverse has Chinese description which is the name of the company, denomination and prove that you are the miner who works in this place. Very very rare token!Auction Results:April 2023, 800 Cash, PCGS MS 62, USD 552This Chinese coal mining token for 300 cash (wen) was discovered by BWS, probably issued about 1940 at Tayeh in central China.The 29-millimeter aluminum token with a round center hole carries an English inscription on one side and a Chinese legend on the other. A portion of the text on the English side is in Chinese. The English side reads in five lines (the first three in English): YU YOK COAL MINING CO. / TAYEH / 300 300 / CHUAN FA MEI LI / KAI PU LIU T’UNG SHIH HUI. The last two lines indicate the token was for use at the mine only and was not to circulate outside. BWS indicated that YU YOK was the Shanghai dialect pronunciation of the Chinese Name YU AO. Thus the company name was Yu Ao Coal Mining Co.The Chinese side reads in three lines: TA YEH YU AO MEI KUANG KUNG SHIH / SAN PAI WEN / YUN FU MEI LI CHENG (Tayeh Yu Ao Coal Mining Co., 300 Cash, Paid for moving a catty of coal). BWS says, “This token belongs to Al Oravec of Reynoldsbug, Ohio. A card with the token indicates it was issued in 1940 and this is entirely possible.“Most Chinese tokens were produced in the 1930’s and 1940’s during the Japanese occupation.“Tayeh was under Japanese occupation by 1940. Can’t find a reference to this particular mine, but Tayeh was a famous iron mining region, part of the Han-Yeh-Ping industrial complex (the first major industrial complex in China). The name comes from the fact that iron is found at Tayeh, coal at Pinghsiang, and the refineries in the Wuhan area (the three adjoining cities of Wuchang, Hanyang and Hankow).“The Hukuang Railway, of which Chinese bonds exist, was built to service this complex.”

AU