Owney's Token From the Post Office Mailbag Repair Shop, 1892

The token presented to Owney on April 13, 1892. Smithsonian National Postal Museum, CC0.

The dog Owney (about 1888–1897) was given this brass token by postal workers in Washington, D.C. It is round, about 5.4 cm (2⅛ inches) across, with a hole at the top so it could be hung on him. Stamped into the metal are the words "U.S. MAIL BAG AND LOCK REPAIR SHOP", the date "APRIL 13 '92" and "WASHINGTON D.C."; the back is plain, apart from the museum's number written in ink. It came from the workers who repaired the Post Office Department's mailbags and locks, and it is now in the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.

Why this shop

Owney was said to love the smell of mailbags, so the shop that mended them would have been a natural stop. In 1892 the Washington repair shop was the centre of the department's bag and lock repair work. Under Superintendent Franklin B. Kirkbridge, it employed 230 workers — 120 men and 110 women — in a five-storey building at 479 and 481 C Street NW. Each month they repaired and returned to service 200,000 mailbags.

The back of the token. Smithsonian National Postal Museum, CC0.

Who did the work

The women mostly did piecework on the jute canvas sacks: sewing, mending and restringing them, at 3½ cents a bag, and they were expected to finish 38 bags a day. The men were paid by the month: $75 for leather and canvas workers, and $50 for the labourers who received the damaged bags, shook them out, handled and packed them, and shipped them out again once repaired.

The token came to the museum by transfer from the Post Office Department itself.

Sources

• Smithsonian National Postal Museum, "US Post Office Department Washington, D.C. Owney tag," object 0.052985.93, released under CC0 through Smithsonian Open Access; rewritten in hubnx's own words. Images from the museum.