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Obverse Design
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Square, with a circle of beads inside the square. Inside the circle, curving along
the top, it says "TENTH INF.". Curving along the bottom of the circle it says
"EXCHANGE".
Across the middle it has an ornamental arrow, x, and arrow.
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Reverse Design
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The square has the same inner circle with beads along the edge. Curving along the
top it says "GOOD FOR". Curving along the bottom it says "IN TRADE". In larger
font it has "5¢". On either side of the "5¢" close to
the edge are six pointed stars.
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Metal
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Brass.
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Weight
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Unknown.
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Size and Shape
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Sqaure, 24 mm by 24 mm.
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Dates Issued
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Probably between 1911 and 1917. Listed in a 1954 catalog.
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Issurer
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Tenth Infantry stationed at Camp Otis.
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Mintage
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Unknown.
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Rarity
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Very Rare.
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Manufacturer
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Unknown.
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Other Catalog Numbers
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Cunningham's CZ290 (photo), Curto's R142 (photo). The two photos appear to be
of the same specimen.
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Varieties
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None known.
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Function
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Perhaps a post exchange token.
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Historical Note
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The 10th Infantry was stationed in the Canal Zone at Camp Otis from October 1911
until May 1917. Upon arrival from its original station in Texas, the 10th Infantry
consisted of 33 officers and 813 enlisted men.
The camp was named for Major General Elwell S. Otis (1838-1909),
a veteran of the Civil War and the Philippines. Camp Otis was an old labor camp
named Las Cascadas which was turned over to the US Army in 1911, after there was
no more use for it in the Panama Canal construction effort.
In 1917 the 10th Infantry was redeployed to France as part of the American
Expeditionary Force.
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Population Count
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Only one specimen in collector hands is known to me.
I do not know of any recent sales.
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