EGIN, IDAHO

Egin is a small agricultural community located in southeastern Idaho about 10 miles northwest of Rexburg.  It was first settled by Mormon homesteaders in 1879. The community has had a couple of general stores over the years that used tokens.  The earliest stores and the post office were run from people’s homes.  The first actual free standing store  was built in 1900 and was located about a mile east of the Egin townsite.  In 1904 that building was moved to the Egin townsite and was run by Andrew Anderson.  He ran his general store until 1916.  He also ran the post office  in conjunction with the store.

The tokens from this store say “A. Anderson / Egin, / Idaho." on the front or obverse.  There are three reverse denominations known and all are rare.  I know of two examples of the 5c token.  The token is round, brass and measure 21mm. There is a drawing of a 10c denomination in "The Story of Egin Bench" by Fern Humphries but I don't know of any in collections nor have I seen one.   In the drawing the token is round, appears brass and measures 23mm.  There is one example of the 25c denomination known.  It is round, brass and measures 25mm and is pictured above.

The next general store in Egin that used tokens was the Egin Merc.  It was originally built in 1919 by Joseph White.  He ran the store until 1923 and then sold it to Gene Zundel.  Earl J. Rumsey bought the store around 1928 and ran it until 1946. 

The tokens from this store say " Egin Merc. Co. / E. J. / Rumsey / Egin, Idaho" on the obverse. There are four different reverse denominations known as well as some 12 1/2 c fakes. The fakes are round, aluminum and measure 26mm.  There are four of them known.  There is one authentic 1c token known which is round, aluminum and measures 25mm. Other authentic denominations are a 10c four lobed, brass token that measures 27mm. There is only one known of this denomination.  The  25c token is octagonal, brass, 27mm and is known in 4 or 5 examples.  The 50c denomination is eight lobed, brass and measures 29mm. There is only one known example.

The Egin Merc. has had several other owners over the years and was still open in the 1990's but I think it is now closed.  The town now consists of a few homes and a couple of farming related businesses.

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