 Lepra Asylum. St. Croix. Ca. Early 1900's. 5 Bit. Zinc. Uniface. Sieg 62A. Extremely Fine. Unique. (Est. $7,000-$8,000)
Situated 2 kilometers from Christiansted, the Lepra Asylum was established on St. Croix circa 1900. The token above was struck for usage at this little-known leprosarium and is the only known token extent.
Purchased July 12, 1943 for 15 Kroner by Judge Anders Christensen, it remained as part of his collection until November 21, 1995 when it was sold at the Kunsthallen Coin Auction, bringing DKr 33,150. According to the Judge's notes, the token had circulated at the facility. In the Kunsthallen write-up, archival sources are quoted saying: ''The ordinance does not mention coins, but a fear of contagiousness has evidently caused the asylum to get their own tokens. The tokens were not to be removed from the hospital, and the Anders Christensen specimen has according to the written notes been disinfected in formalin [formaldehyde].''
Thus we may conjecture that the St. Croix leprosarium token coinage was of very limited mintage, remained within the facility's boundaries and were all destroyed on site save for this specimen which somehow escaped. However, this token may have been intended as a sample or pattern for a token coinage that was not put into use -- or perhaps the token coinage was put into usage, and this specimen was spared the smelter because it was the pattern. Either way this token remains as an important numismatic document of St. Croix's Leper Asylum.
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