Trolleys and Bus Tokens

BY ROBERT R. VAN RYZIN

I wasn’t familiar with the term “jitney” as slang for a five-cent piece. Its origin is apparently still in dispute. One reference tied it to a deviation from a Russian coinage term, and another linked it to the French term jeton. Certainly, in the boxing world, it was in use by 1905. The May 19, 1905 issue of the San Antonio (Texas) Gazette, reporting on a planned Army boxing match at Fort Sam Houston between “Bunny” Raeder and “Boston Kid” Richardson, noted that “both of these boys are well-known exponents of the manly art…” At the 110-bantamweight level in the proposed 20-round fight, it was argued that the “Boston Kid” had a slight advantage, but the newspaper advised that this “is offset by the wider ring experience of Raeder who…

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Numismatic News (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 1, 2025

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