Chits as Private Currency

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ryanpatgray Posted: Sat, Dec 6 2008 11:37 AM

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Some of my ancestors came from coal-mining towns in Southern Ohio. I remember hearing stories about these towns and how some of these big coal companies would sometimes hand out "chits" as payment. Chits worked out fine as local currency because local companies knew they were redeemable. They would not work well if you traveled to a party of the country where coal mining was not the primary industry. It has been many years since I heard these stories and do not have all of the details. Does anybody have any information on how this system worked? Could this system work today in a part of the country where one industry dominates? (I.E. Microsoft Chits in Seattle or Disney Chits in Los Angeles.)

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Okooka replied on Sat, Dec 6 2008 2:37 PM

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http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1565

First google search result for 'coal mining chits ohio'

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Warren Raftshol replied on Sat, Dec 6 2008 4:01 PM

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Perhaps the chits worked in the same way the 'Wara' currency work in Germany in 1931.  Wara was scrip that promised to

pay the bearer in coal. http://copsewood.net/pipermail/mrsdev/2007/000192.html see also http://www.speedylook.com/Wara.html

Wara was spectacularly successful in Swandenkirchen Germany in 1931. It was so successful that the German central bank

had it quashed.  A similar scrip currency in Worgl, Austria was successful and suppressed by the Austrian central bank. Worgl