C. A. Klinkner & Co advertising piece for Chinese community
This token is an advertising piece for C. A. Klinkner & Co which was a rubber stamp company operated in San Francisco in the late 19th and early 20th centry. There are several different varieties issued by the company and this one was likely intended for adverting the business among Chinese community based on the Cantonese charateres inscribed on the reverse.C. A. Klinkner & Co was established by Charles Alexander Klinkner (June 25, 1852 – March 17, 1893), a German immigrant. He purchased land and founded Klinknerville centered at what is now the corner of San Pablo and 59th Street circa 1885. He used money from his successful rubber stamp business. Klinkner built 75 houses, and raffled off two of them in order to create interest in the town. the name of Klinknerville was changed to Golden Gate In 1888 for the beautiful views (now obscured) across the San Francisco Bay of the Golden Gate, the entrance to the Bay which is now spanned by the Golden Gate Bridge. The town was later annexed by Oakland in 1897.
Even to his family, Charles Klinkner was known as an eccentric character. That tends to happen to a man who is arrested for counterfeiting after distributing nickel-sized coins carrying the name of his rubber stamp company, who wears a suit with 40 or 50 pockets in order to carry goods he could sell to a customer at any time, or who drives a team of red, white and blue painted mules through the streets of Oakland on the Fourth of July. Klinkner was well known for his advertising activities, which included pulling his advertising cart with mules painted red, white, and blue, for the 4th of July, green for St. Patrick's Day, and appropriate colors for other holidays. He often used his pet elk to pull his cart and had monkeys, which would ride on his dog to advertise his products. In addition to his business ventures, Klinkner ran a baseball team called the Klinknerville 9. His favorite boast was "early to bed, early to rise, never get drunk, but advertise.
“He was a true late 19th century entrepreneur,” Klinkner’s grandson, Thomas Klinkner, wrote in an essay on his family’s history, “whose life seems to have been occupied entirely by business schemes and local politics.”
In addition to his businesses in Oakland, California, Klinkner also owned a large and lucrative business with many employees at 320 Sansome Street, San Francisco, manufacturing rubber and metallic stamps and badges. This is exactly the business the posted token is advertising for.
Klinkner died young at age 40.
Note: (Part of the article is excerpted from the information posted on https://localwiki.org/oakland/Charles_Alexander_Klinkner)
It's my first time to see Cantonese charateres on token coins except some special names, very interesting.
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