USA 1900's - Ceylon MN
Rosenberg & Lenz

An USA Five Cents Merchant Trade token from Rosenberg & Lenz, Saloon of Ceylon, Martin County, Minnesota. Dates back to 1910 or before.

SPECIFICATIONS
Value5 cents
AlloyAluminum
Diameter22.3 mm
Thickness1.0 mm
Weight0.92 gms
ShapeRound
EdgePlain
DieAxis
rosenberg&lenz_ceylon_mn_5c_obverse rosenberg&lenz_ceylon_mn_5c_reverse
Token Catalog #101347

Obverse : Star with two arrow heads on either side () just above center with name ROSENBERG & LENZ, above along periphery, and town CEYLON,   MINN. below in two arcs, with a dot-diamond-dot (●     ●) in between all within dash-circle along raised rim.
Reverse : Large 5¢ at center with two stars ( ★ ) on either side breaking the legend GOOD FOR on top and IN TRADE below at bottom along the periphery. All within dash-circle along raised rim.

Note that this 5c token is slightly larger than a regular Nickel (21.2mm)

Gerald Rosenberg who has sent me most of the information on this website says
My Great Grandfather Henry Rosenberg Sr. moved into this area in 1885 - my Grandfather had eleven sisters and brothers, with him totaling twelve. Rosenberg and Lenz were "Brothers - in - Law"! August Rosenberg married Martha Lenz 1895 and Elizabeth Rosenberg married Albert John Lenz 1900. Two brother's married each others sisters! The Rosenberg's were my Grandfather's Older Brother & Sister. I always suspected that they ran a saloon together for a time.

This token must date back to 1910 or before because those two left for North Dakota to make their fortune then when land came available to homestead. When Lenz & Rosenberg went North, I think Lenz sold the Business to his brother Louie Lenz. Some of the locals remember his name, and somewhere in the Ceylon Historical Museum there is a photo of his saloon, with him behind the bar.

Henry Rosrnberg Sr. was insturmental in building the St. John's United Church of Christ in Tenhassen in 1895 and was moved crosscountry about five mile to Ceylon in 1905. Because of the narrow bridge the church had to be moved across the ice on Tuttle Lake in February.

The VF- token was scanned at 300 dpi and the images are displayed at 250 dpi. This token is from the collection of Chris Hanning curator of the Granada MN Historical Museum who also sent me images of the Dutcman's Tokens in 2003 January. I thank him and Gerald Rosenberg for the history.

That token from Lakdiva collection was gifted to Gerald Rosenberg my visit in 2005 September. Image above is of a higher grade token photoshoped from 400 dpi photograph posted in tokencatalog.com with comment punch mark in obverse which is not clearly visible.

The resulting additional listing in tokenCatalog as #171692 seems unjustified.

See also the Ceylon MN token site for more stories.