Hello, and welcome to your one-stop guide to the world of collectible Sambo's wooden nickels and tokens! The purpose of this guide is to give you as much information about these wonderful collectibles, as well as to help you make a smart purchasing decision by including a visual guide to my personal grading method for these tokens. Finally, you'll find a bibliography at the end of this document to reference all areas where I've culled historical and practical information.

First, a bit of history.

Sambo's was the name of a famous chain of restaurants, started up by  Sam Battistone and Newell Bohnett in 1957, and as best described by one of my favorite web sources, Wikipedia, "Though the name was taken from portions of the names of its founders, the chain soon found itself associated with The Story of Little Black Sambo. Battistone and Bohnett capitalized on the coincidence by decorating the walls of the restaurants with scenes from the book, including a dark-skinned boy and tigers."

By the time the 1970's were over, there were more than 1,200 Sambo's Restaurants in the U.S., but then quickly went bankrupt, leaving only one restaurant with the original name. Alongside bankruptcy issues came lawsuits, based on plagiarism issues and claims of discrimination with the hiring and promotion of employees. With all this turmoil, Sambo's items have become quite popular. As for the surviving restaurant, it was the original pancake house, where breakfast and lunch are still served daily in beautiful Santa Barbara, California - right nearby the beach, no less! Now run by Chad Stevens, the grandson of Sam Battistone, the hope is that one day there may be a revival of Sambo's Restaurants. In the meantime, you can take part in reliving a part of American history by purchasing some of their more collectible items, such as their wooden nickels which offered the recipient a free cup of coffee.

There have been many versions of these nickels that came out over the years, and we are able to display the selection that have been in our possession to assist selling for some of our clients.

Our grading system:

• Near Mint :: Nickels are overall clean, don't display any pen, dirt, water or mold marks, and my show very minor wear from handling and storage over the years. There should be no signs of splitting.
• Good :: Nickels are still very clean, with very mild markings of dirt, but should not display any pen, water or mold marks, and show minor wear from handling and storage over the years. There should be no signs of splitting.
• Fair :: Nickels are somewhat clean and may display markings of pen, dirt, water or mold, as well as minor to moderate wear from handling and storage over the years. Front and back of nickel should still be visible to fairly visible. There may also be signs of very minor splitting, due to the type of materials used.
• Salvage :: Nickels that display moderate or heavy markings of pen, dirt, water or mold, as well as moderate to heavy wear from handling and storage over the years. There may also be signs of minor to moderate splitting, due to the type of materials used.

Bibliography
*All references are easily found by searching on Google, or links to websites can be requested by email.

1. Sambo's. Wikipedia. [www document]
2. The Original Sambo's Restaurant. [www document]
3. Review of Sambo's Restaurant. John Dickenson. Santa Barbara Restaurant Guide. [www document]