Scrip is one of the defining artifacts of a coal camp. Scrip was the currency of the miner. There are many excellent links on scrip throughout the internet. I will update this page and provide a few.
Scrip in Whitby follows the same pattern as any other mining town. The scrip was often created and issued within the same town. Sterling Smokeless Coal issued the piece you see below and the denominations went as high as 5 dollars. There is a link provided below that will take you to a page with a full set of Sterling Smokeless Scrip at Whitby. Earlier operations such as Bowyer Smokeless did have scrip as well. Click here to see Bowyer WV Scrip. A link is provided below for Bowyer WV scrip as well. I look forward to folks letting me know what living on scrip was like. After doing some research, I have found that at best a miner could get 75 cents on the dollar in exchange for scrip. The worst I have found was less than 50 cents on the dollar.
The sample below was purchased from John Singleton and he was very prompt in his mailing and service. I have his e mail address below if you wish to purchase scrip from him.
Sterling Smokeless Scrip at Whitby WV
LillyBrook WV Scrip
As part of LillyBrook became Whitby, I thought it would be appropriate to add images of this as well. The sample below is a scrip dime from the LillyBrook Coal Co.
