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Obverse Design
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The legend "WING CHONG YUEN & CO." curves along the top. The legend "COLON"
curves along the bottom. There are small five-point stars as dividers on
either side of "COLON". In the center is a large number 5 with rays coming
out from it. By my count, there are a total of 48 rays - eight of the longest
ones, eight medium size rays, and two shorter rays on either side of each
long and medium-size ray.
The token has denticles along the edge and a smooth plain raised edge.
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Reverse Design
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The reverse is blank but has denticles along the edge and a smooth plain raised edge.
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Metal
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Copper-nickel.
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Weight
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3.0 ± .1 grams.
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Size and Shape
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Round, 19.7 mm in diameter.
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Dates Issued
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Unknown. Perhaps issued in the early 1880's.
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Issurer
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Wing Chong Yuen and Company.
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Mintage
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Unknown.
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Rarity
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Common.
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Manufacturer
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Unknown.
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Other Catalog Numbers
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Asociación Numismático's F-297 (photo), Eklund #1071,
Henkle's Colon #47 (photo), Plumer page #10, Rulau's Col 69.
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Varieties
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There are three known different WING CHONG YUEN & CO. token designs, two uniface and
one with a design on both sides. There is also a WING CHUNG YUEN (note the middle
name is CHUNG, not CHONG). That token is both uniface and incuse, similar to
the A. GROSSO COLON Y CHAGRE token.
The design of this token is identical to that of the PT-320.05 HOTEL INTEROCÉANIQUE token, with only
the name of the issuer being different. Undoubtedly it was made by the same manufacturer.
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Function
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Merchant token.
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Population Count
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Eleven specimens of this token in collector hands are known to me.
Recent sales include:
- Auction sale on ebay on March 17, 2006 for $59.99 plus $3.00 shipping in condition AU.
- Auction sale on ebay on September 18, 2001 for $20.50 plus $4.00 shipping.
- Auction sale on ebay on August 27, 2001 for $26.00 plus $4.00 shipping in condition VF.
- Auction sale on ebay on March 19, 2001 for $34.00 plus $7.00 shipping.
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Notes
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This is the middle grade of sophistication of the three varieties
due to the regular lettering (not incuse) but having a blank reverse.
The radiant 5 was a design which was also used on two Colon tokens known
to be from the 1880's, so this token may be from that same era.
However WING CHONG YUEN and CO. does not appear in
the Commercial Directory of the American Republics (1897-1898), so
the firm may have been defunct by 1897.
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