NNP

Courtesy of John Ostendorf, NNP has added the American Tax Token Society (ATTS) Newsletters for the years 2011-2025, completing a 50+ year run of the publication that began in 1971. The ATTS concluded its operation at the end of 2025, and the club leaves an extensive legacy of related research. 

For those not familiar, tax tokens represent a short-lived fiscal convenience created to handle fractional sales taxes that arose when states and municipalities imposed rates like 1%, 2%, or 3% on low-priced goods. States authorized inexpensive metal or fiber tokens, typically valued at 1 mill (one-tenth of a cent), to make exact change possible. Retailers used these tokens to collect the precise tax due, then returned them in bulk to state tax authorities or wholesalers for redemption. Their use peaked in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and faded as prices rose, rounding rules were adopted, and tax rates were adjusted to avoid fractions. Today, tax tokens hearken to an era when a penny remained substantial enough that splitting it into further parts actually made sense (pardon the pun). 

Link to American Tax Token Society Newsletter on NNP: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/524434

The latest issue of Half Crazy, the newsletter of the Seated Half Society, is now available on NNP. The Seated Half Society is an honorary group whose membership is open to those owning significant collections of Liberty Seated half dollars, similar to the Bust Half Nut Club. This issue reports a newly discovered 1878-S half dollar, the 55th example now listed in the Bill Bugert census. Bugert further calls for census information on the 1849 WB-6 Dramatically Doubled Date and 1873 No Arrows Open 3 half dollar varieties. This issue also includes coverage of the 1877/6 and 1842 Small Date, Small Letters varieties. Half Crazy is edited by Dennis Fortier, for more information on this group he may be contacted at ricajun@msn.com.

Link to Half Crazy on Newman Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/publisherdetail/548913