The Mill.... Coin That Is!

My Grandpa Bill was a collector of coins. I was reminded the other day of a particular one he had given me years ago….a Mill Coin. Do you know what  a “Mill Coin” is? Have you ever seen one?

Cardboard Oklahoma Mill Coin
 

The Mill Coin was issued in various states across the country, beginning in Oklahoma January 1, 1936 ending production September 30, 1961. They were also made out of anything from cardboard, tin, aluminum, plastic, or paper, and could come in an array of colors.

 

So What’s the Point?

 The Mill Coin was used as a means to help pay taxes for the merchants to the state.

 

Here is an example given by “Sales Tax Token Collector”, you can read the Full Article at: http://www.taxtoken.org/faq.htm

 

 

"Merchants had to pay sales tax to the state on the total amount of sales made by the merchant during each day's sales. You can imagine that if the sales tax rate is 3% and a child buys a 10c piece of candy there is no way to collect the three-tenths of one cent. If you rounded down that meant that the merchant could not collect anything for the tax. If you rounded up the state was gaining 7 tenths of a cent on every 10 cent sale. You can see that if the merchant sold 100 pieces of candy he was loosing 30 cents a day in tax revenues to the state, so the token was born. This allowed the merchant to take 11 cents for the first piece of candy and give  change back in mills. The next time you wanted to buy a 10c candy you could present the merchant with the 10c    and a token and complete the transaction. This allowed the merchant to collect the sales tax on each transaction.

 

A mill is 1/1000th of a dollar or a tenth of a cent. As you can imagine, people did not like having to carry a second set of coins, and to further complicate matters, different states issued different tax tokens. 1  and 5 mills are the most common denominations, but other denominations include: 1/5 cent, 1 1/2 mills, and "Tax on 10c or less."      

 

 

The Grace and Mercy of God

I was a school teacher for fourteen years and one who loved to teach reading and writing; and with that, I truly enjoyed teaching my students about the history of Oklahoma, and sharing the stories I heard growing up from family members.  One of those aspects we covered was the Great Depression. I had spent all my years growing up hearing about this time period from my great - grandmother and grandfather.

With the Stock Market crash on October 24, 1929 which became known as "Black Tuesday"; and within a few short years Oklahoma experiencing the Dust Bowl, the Great Depression seemed to be in full swing. People were out of work, food lines opening to feed those who were starving, people forsaking all they knew to head west hearing you could possibly find work in California. An extremely difficult time period through the 1930's that affected everyone across the United States, and certainly the farming families in the mid-west. Henry and Sibyl were barely in their twenties.

The year was 1931/1932 when my Great-Grandparents Henry and Sibyl decided to borrow money from the bank; the only time she said that they ever did; and it was 50.00! With a new baby coming, Henry went and pulled old boards off one of the old family home places to make a new floor for the new addition to the house. Henry had also bought a pig, and as soon as the pig had babies, he sold them, made the money back, and went straight to the bank to pay off the note!              

Henry and Sibyl

These days were hard, and some of Sibyl's own family decided to head west hoping it was better out in California! They asked Henry and Sibyl to travel with them and go to California, Henry said, "No, they were staying!"

They didn't do without and didn't buy things they couldn't pay for, or afford! Sibyl continued to live that way up until the end of her days in 2011 when she went to be with Jesus. 

What Henry and Sibyl helped to carry on, build, and establish, is close to 100 plus years old, and is still today in full operation with some 300 plus head of cattle, 20 plus head of horses, and a few thousand acres managed by my parents, grandparents, and other family members. God kept them, blessed them, in a time that devastated so many. 

That kind of fortitude was certainly passed down to their children and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. My mom made a comment once that has stayed with me all these years, "No matter what it looked like, somehow we always made it."

Henry and Sibyl's Home Place 2013

It wasn't until all these years later when God began to intervene in my life, that I began to understand it was God! God we always made it... God we always had enough. He was with us then, with us all now. The mercy and grace of God.



Isaiah 55:6
Seek you the LORD while he may be found, call you upon him while he is near.