Token for one cigar from B.C. ghost town sells for $610 more than a century later

Reco Hotel owner John Morgan Harris would hand the tokens out as a promotion

A rare token for one free cigar at a long-defunct hotel in a B.C. ghost town has sold for more than $600.

The small token — marked Hotel Reco Sandon B.C. on the front and Good For One Cigar on the back — was listed on E-bay for 99 cents on Nov. 19.

Over the next five days there were 16 bids. One bidder started at $155 and ended up making a final offer of $600 before being outbid for $610 at the last minute by someone who had made no earlier bids.

Sandon is one of B.C.’s well-known ghost towns, located halfway between New Denver and Kaslo off Highway 31A in the West Kootenay.

It was built to service a short-lived but lucrative silver boom in the deep and high valley renowned for its heavy annual snowfall. The community prospered from 1890 to 1900, then died off before having another boom during the First World War.

The first hotel was registered in May 1893 and within a few years Sandon had 24 hotels, two dozen saloons, two rail lines and three breweries with around 5,000 permanent residents. There was also a curling arena, hockey rink and even a ski hill.

It was incorporated as a city in 1898.

In 1900, a fire destroyed most of the town’s core, though it was rebuilt with less grandeur. In 1907 an avalanche destroyed more buildings and in 1955 most of the remaining buildings were destroyed by a flood.

Sandon was also the first community in B.C. to operate fully on hydro power. It is a summer tourist destination now, notable for its collection of vintage B.C. Transit buses and its access to the stunning Idaho Peak lookout.

According to West Kootenay historian Greg Nesteroff, there were four hotels in Sandon called the Reco at one point or another and this token was likely from the second or third incarnation, operated by John Morgan Harris.

Harris was the biggest name in business in Sandon and stayed on until the bitter end, when he died there in 1954.

The community was also used by the federal government to intern Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.

Harris would use the tokens to hand out to people as a promotion.

Sandon was former B.C. politician and historian Bill Barlee’s favourite old mining towns in B.C. and was featured in his Gold Trails and Ghost Towns series.

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