Artifacts of Appalachia
Goals and Services
This website is dedicated to the cataloging, archiving, and discussion of the artifacts that remain of West Virginia’s history. As Tyler Childers said poignantly, it is “a long, violent history.”
Scrip—the token monetary system used to pay lumbermen and miners—was one of the main catalysts to the Coal Wars in these hills. On the other side, you will find bottles—vessels of what once offered laborers and miners and their families reprieve in a difficult life. Finally, in honor of my own half-heritage, you will find another struggle archived here: that of the Filipinos who struggled against constant colonization by the Spanish, Americans, and Japanese.
Why am I doing this? The simple answer is that I love it. I love to give people the opportunity to see these objects as clearly as they would in their hand, as most of these items have never been photographed and preserved in high quality. And, notably, never have they been available to be viewed by anybody.
I want you to be able to see the life that it lived through scuffs, scrapes, and dings. This isn’t a traditional “catalog” website in that way, as hutchbook and tokencatalog might be. While that information is here informally, it is not in the limelight. I am trying to make the history of these pieces more accessible and bring it to the fore, as collections often focus on the item itself rather than its past.
I am constantly taking pictures of items and researching, so if you have an item that is not on here, it may be soon and I may already be aware of it. If you have something that is unlisted in any other catalogs (e.g., tokencatalog, hutchbook, any of my books), then please email me with images of the front, back, bottom, and sides. Thank you kindly.
Currently Needed
I need images to make this website useful and updated. That often requires a lot of travel, and a lot of money, be it for equipment, editing software, gas, etcetera. If you have an extensive collection, or any piece that isn’t pictured here and you know is rare, please reach out so we can coordinate a way for your piece to be photographed. This might be through shipping or travel.
Donations are always welcome, be it examples of items or monetary. Websites are not cheap to build nor maintain, unfortunately, and I would love to see this project have longevity. Donating is not a cost to use the website—all information here is free of charge—so do not feel pressured into doing so.
Consignment Services
Like the way I photograph and describe items? I provide consignment services for collections, bringing unmatched knowledge of photography, history, and marketing of these items.
For items already photographed by me, there is a 25% consignment fee for items less than $300. Items greater than $300 are only charged at a 15% fee. Auction houses, such as Heritage, charge appraisal fees—something to the tune of $2,500 per day for large collections. I do not charge appraisal fees.
This is a list of items that I specialize in:
Antique bottles
Merchant tokens
Coal scrip
Lumber scrip
National banknotes (and other currency)
American coinage
I work with you every step of the process and respect the collection that you have accumulated over the years.
Photography Services
Want your collection or certain pieces photographed? I can do that too! Here is my list of rates by item type, with everything delivered to you in a finished state with the proper aspect ratio for your needs. All items are subject to immense discounts for large collections.
Bottles and glass — $5/per (bulk, $0.75 per)
Tokens and coins — $3/per (bulk, $0.25 per)
Banknotes and currency — $3/per (bulk, $0.25 per)
Ephemera and advertising — $5/per (bulk, $0.75 per)
Sports cards — $3/per (bulk, $0.50 per)