Vintage Missouri Tax Tokens, Red Plastic, One Mill, Circa 1940s, Lot of Five

Description

Vintage Missouri Tax Tokens, Red Plastic, One Mill,
Circa 1940s, Lot of Five
Missouri, like eleven other states, issued sales tax tokens during the Great Depression and World War II. These tokens were used to pay the sales tax, or they were received by the buyer as change when the tax wasn't an even cent and they didn't have tokens available.
These tokens were most likely made by Ingwersen Manufacturing Company, although a couple of other companies are also indicated as possibly manufacturing Missouri plastic tokens. The one-mill red plastic tokens were issued from 1943 to 1954. Records indicate that 536.4 million were minted. The numbers issued, redeemed and destroyed are unknown. They were demonetized on December 31, 1961.
A total of four dies were used (evident in the width of the rings around the denomination), allowing for ten possible die varieties when combining the four dies with the two faces. Furthermore, the color, opacity, and translucency vary as a result of different mixes of the plastic and dye, as well as from aging. As a result, over 50 varieties have been reported.
These tokens are about 22mm in diameter. Two of the tokens are dark red in color, and they have narrower central circles. Three tokens are bright red, and they have thicker central circles. The tokens are identical on both sides, and they read properly when the tokens are flipped over on the horizontal axis.
All of the tokens have a large numeral "1" inside the central circles. That indicates that they are one mill in denomination. In an arc by the upper perimeter is "Missouri". In an arc by the lower perimeter is "Sales Tax Token".
All of the tokens have crisp impressions and appear to be uncirculated. Two of the tokens are flat, and three are warped. How they became warped is unknown, but it may have occurred during the minting process. Token #2 has a die crack that appears to be the same on both sides of the token. Please see the photos.