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V15 2012 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 15, Number 12, March 18, 2012, Article 6

ARE DOG LICENSE TAGS PARANUMISMATIC?

In an earlier E-Sylum article we discussed dog license tags and whether they should be considered exonumia. I also asked, "How do our paranumismatists on the other side of the pond classify such items? Are they considered paranumismatic?"

Pete Smith and Peter Irion of the Token and Medal Society forwarded this note from Bob Lyall, who saw my question reprinted in my TAMS Journal column. Thanks -Editor

Dog tag collection

Bob Lyall writes:

We Brits (plus several American stalwarts) have had an annual token congress for some 30+ years now with an auction, a bourse and lots of talks, both short and not so short, but to the best of my memory, never has a talk ever broached the subject of dog licence discs. This may well be because dogs have not been subject to licensing for many years in Britain, I seem to recall my mother had to license the 2 dogs she had when I was a boy, 50+ years ago, but never recall seeing any relevant disc, I think she had a paper certificate.

But, in my little book on Malta tokens I include dog license disks and illustrate 4 whilst listing details for some 20 years between 1941 and 1975 - subsequently I have found a few more, one as early as 1924. In the West Indies there were (are?) license discs for dogs in St Kitts and Nevis, Anguilla, the Caymans, Jamaica and I have a rabies inoculation disc from Turks and Caicos and another from Belize (one time British Honduras). I've never searched them out particularly, so there are probably lots to be found.

In addition, there were license discs for the likes of porters in St Kitts and shoe blacks and ferrymen in Malta. None of these themes have ever, to my knowledge, been a part of paranumismatic interests, but in contrast, in various African countries and in New Guinea (Pacific island north of Australia) hut tax tokens were an annual "thing" in the first 30 years of the 20th century, Rhodesian ones are probably the commonest and these are catalogued by Hern with Southern African tokens (all be it at values I think are extraordinary, but who am I to adjudge South African token values). New Guinea ones were catalogued by Bill Mira together with coins and tokens.

So, beauty is in the eye of the beholder surely - if you want to include tax / license discs with your token collection, then just do it! I sit on the fence and have a few but not a comprehensive collection so you can sling mud at me from both directions!!

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see: ARE DOG LICENSE TAGS EXONUMIA? (www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v15n02a09.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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