A Lakeland Police Captain who collected old coins as a kid, handed over an historical coin, once used town near Lake Wales, to the Polk County Historical Museum.
Captain Victor White, a collector of old coins, bottles and old water pumps left in the woods as a child, had forgotten about the old Sumica coin until recently, when discussing his boyhood days. Sumica, which stands for “Societe Universelle Mining industrie, Commerce et Agriculture,” was turpentine and sawmill town that ceased to exist in 1927, but which had its own tender.
The town, originally located near Lake Wales, consisted of 50 houses, a commissary, church, school, and a railroad depot. The town had its own currency for the company store. As the pine forest began to diminish so did the town until it ceased to exist.
Captain White says, he began to wonder if the coin would be of interest to a museum.
“I thought they probably had a bag of these coins in mint condition and would not care about this partially deteriorated coin,” said Captain White. But, Polk County museum curator, Tom Muir and Historical Preservation Manager, Myrtice Young were very excited about the coin.
On February 16, Captain White officially donated his coin to the Polk County Historical Museum. The coin will be displayed in an exhibit along with other relics from Sumica.
As to the value of the coin, “The value is not important to me,” Captain White said. “I am more concerned with preserving history.”
The Polk County Museum is located at 100 East Main Street in Bartow, Florida, and is free of charge to the public.
