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(1885) South Carolina 2980-A5b (R-7) J Bissell Plantation Former Slave Merchant Token. Very Rare 12 known. Green Pond freed slaves currency. Ef. Plain Edge, 29mm, Brass.
J. Bennett Bissell, a wealthy Lowcountry rice planter associated with Green Pond/Yemassee, South Carolina, and Charleston. The numismatic literature identifies him as the issuer of the 1885 brass 5-cent plantation token, used to pay field workers on his rice plantation.
His operations centered on the Combahee River and included:
* Bonny Hall
* Vineyard
* Cypress
* Rose Hill
* Laurel Spring
* Smithfield
* Hughes
* Hickory Hill
* Cockfield
* Hobonny
The numismatic literature specifically states that Bissell’s tokens were used to pay field workers on his rice plantation, and that most of those workers were African Americans who had been enslaved roughly two decades earlier.
