My small token/medal collection. Some history wanted...(edited with descriptions)
BillyKingsley
Posts: 2,661 ✭✭✭✭
This is it. I couldn't tell you where I got some of them! The bottom row and part of the top row is all video arcade tokens.
What in the world is a OPA Red Point? It came in my 1 pound of world coins. So did the silver token above it. The Red Point is wood.
That Washington thing is clearly a copy of the Quarter (it's Quarter size too). It's the same on both sides. Does anyone know when it's from?
How about the Missouri Sales Tax coin? It's very interesting in that it's not like any other coin in my collection. It doesn't have a normal coin rotation OR a medal rotation. Instead, it rotates < ^ instead of < > or ^ ^. It appears to be zinc, but maybe not. How did one get the Sears token when it was new?
These aren't tokens but don't really deserve their own thread either. Most of these my dad brought home from various trips. The one on the top right appears to be a cent pounded flat.
Thanks for any info you may provide!
What in the world is a OPA Red Point? It came in my 1 pound of world coins. So did the silver token above it. The Red Point is wood.
That Washington thing is clearly a copy of the Quarter (it's Quarter size too). It's the same on both sides. Does anyone know when it's from?
How about the Missouri Sales Tax coin? It's very interesting in that it's not like any other coin in my collection. It doesn't have a normal coin rotation OR a medal rotation. Instead, it rotates < ^ instead of < > or ^ ^. It appears to be zinc, but maybe not. How did one get the Sears token when it was new?
These aren't tokens but don't really deserve their own thread either. Most of these my dad brought home from various trips. The one on the top right appears to be a cent pounded flat.
Thanks for any info you may provide!
Billy Kingsley ANA R-3146356 Cardboard History // Numismatic History
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Comments
The elongated coins are usually done at places of interest as momentos/keepsakes if you will. The process is you stick a coin of some type usually a cent into a slot and crank a wheel which imprints the image onto that coin. Looks like the ones you have are mostly from Disney. Some of the more sought after ones are from the 1893 Columbian Expo and Worlds Fair elongated coins.
Sales tax tokens were created when the buyer or seller would wind up with an uneven or fraction amount being owed. : Sales Tax Tokens
The flag, just fun..., and 25 are stock tokens and exceedingly common. The GSP is Garden
State Parkway bus token if memory serves and slightly better. The Sears is a relic medal
from 1986; common.
The blue one looks interesting. I can't see the obverse.
The gas ranges is a little better and much older advertising token and will sometimes sell
for a few dollars. The Washington is from the '30's and may be a button. There are dozens
of varieties of this but this one looks common.
I'm not familiar with the Sunoco or 23 but the former is a little interesting. The car is pro-
bably unidentifiable but is interesting.
The elongates are likely modern but can't tell from the picture.
Just HOW rare is the Putts and Prizes? Could I sell them for profit? While that's not the kind of thing I normally do, I could get more of them with ease...a truly good one not as easy. One of them is also from a local company called Fun Central. Are there people who collect these solely? All but a few of them I got at the actual arcade. Putts and Prizes is a minature golf/arcade in Lake George NY. The Fun Central token is the one that reflected in the lead shot.
I actually have 4 of the Garden State Parkway tokens-my dad worked for a bus company for a few decades and some people would leave them-when he would get them in the shop he found all kinds of stuff, including these. None of them are very good condition, but they were the first bi-metallic coins I've ever seen. I may have one or two more of them around here somewhere as well.
Here's what I can ID, which I probably should have before- (lead photo) The one in the baggie on the top left is a giant NASCAR medal that came with a DVD set they never finished. I have 4 of them. The next over appears to be something offical like, I THINK that's the state seal of New York. It's in poor shape and may have been a button or pin. It's hard to make out the decals due to the shape. I found it in a parking lot and brought it home. Three game tokens. On the far right is a little bit of a mystery-it's aluminum, and it's completly black. It looks like it may have been shiny at one point but it's not pretty scratched up. It's just a round piece of aluminum with smooth surfaces with a slight raised edge. Another one my dad brought home.
Second row-the giant Michael Jordan medallion was made by Upper Deck at some point. I can't recall when I got it or how. Next to that is "Auto Cash & Dis. Mach. 5C In Trade. I am clueless. Came from bulk world coins. Next is probably not even considered a coin or medallion. It's plastic, and the car sticks up off it. I think it may be a 1940 Ford modified on there. The back is white. I don't know it's origins, I bought it at the Toledo Toy fair a couple of years ago. Then the GSP tokens and the Washington thing. I'm really surprised to hear that's from the 1930s!
Next row-the Sunoco coin is probably some sort of offical thing. My dad brought that home too. It's aluminum and on the back engraved in is No. 811. The Red Point and gas ranges medal were addresses. The YMCA token is another that my dad brought home. I don't know how I got the Missouri or Sears items.
All the video arcade tokens on the bottom I've either saved from a video game trip or again my dad brought home after finding them on a bus. I'm thinking the Putts and Prizes and Fun Central might be a little rare as they are not chains but local establishments that issued their own.
The flattened coins are all pretty new. The vertical one on the top left is from Ohio, I got it in 2003. The top one horizontially is also Ohio and depicts a train. The one under that is from Lake George NY but didn't print correctly. The next horizontal one is for Ohio, Birthplace of Flight. Below that is a different cruise ship from Lake George. I got all those myself. The next row is actually a Quarter with Chesapeake Bay Bridge. My dad got this when he visited his best friend who moved to Virginia (It's clearly visible on it as a 1988 P quarter!) Below that is another Ohio one that I got on my first trip to Ohio in 2003. To the right of that is a flattened cent (which I vageuly recall my dad doing around 1990-I have no clue why) and below that is a soap box derby, again from Ohio.
The bottom vertical row is Tweety from Sig Flags, which my dad got on the bus, as well as the next one which appears to be a young Donald Duck or one of his nephews. He found that too. Next to that is a prancing Unicorn (no clue where I got it), One that says My Lucky Penny, one that printed wrong that said "I love you", one from Fort William Henry NY, and I can't make out or remember the last one
Thanks again for the info!
<< <i>Thanks for the great info! The OPA token is really cool, even if it is common. I'm glad to have it. I'd never heard of it before. I wonder how I got the Missouri sales tax token. As far as I know none of my family has ever been to Missouri. I wonder too if it's rarer because of the fact that it's likely an error. >>
They made many millions of the MO token. These come in a few major types but this
one is common and not an error. They had random orientation. There was apparently
no official destruction of these so very many still survive.
<< <i>
Just HOW rare is the Putts and Prizes? Could I sell them for profit? While that's not the kind of thing I normally do, I could get more of them with ease...a truly good one not as easy. One of them is also from a local company called Fun Central. Are there people who collect these solely? All but a few of them I got at the actual arcade. Putts and Prizes is a minature golf/arcade in Lake George NY. The Fun Central token is the one that reflected in the lead shot. >>
I just meant I hadn't seen it before. If it's current that would explain my not seeing it.
There are only half a dozen serious collectors of video arcade tokens so any more than
this would saturate the market. Even highly desirable tokens are considered common
when more than a dozen are known.
<< <i>
I actually have 4 of the Garden State Parkway tokens-my dad worked for a bus company for a few decades and some people would leave them-when he would get them in the shop he found all kinds of stuff, including these. None of them are very good condition, but they were the first bi-metallic coins I've ever seen. I may have one or two more of them around here somewhere as well. >>
There is a larger market and more demand for these but they 50c or a dollar tokens.
<< <i>
Here's what I can ID, which I probably should have before- (lead photo) The one in the baggie on the top left is a giant NASCAR medal that came with a DVD set they never finished. I have 4 of them. The next over appears to be something offical like, I THINK that's the state seal of New York. It's in poor shape and may have been a button or pin. It's hard to make out the decals due to the shape. I found it in a parking lot and brought it home. Three game tokens. On the far right is a little bit of a mystery-it's aluminum, and it's completly black. It looks like it may have been shiny at one point but it's not pretty scratched up. It's just a round piece of aluminum with smooth surfaces with a slight raised edge. Another one my dad brought home.
Second row-the giant Michael Jordan medallion was made by Upper Deck at some point.
I can't recall when I got it or how. Next to that is "Auto Cash & Dis. Mach. 5C In Trade. I am clueless. Came from bulk world coins. Next is probably not even considered a coin or medallion. It's plastic, and the car sticks up off it. I think it may be a 1940 Ford modified on there. The back is white. I don't know it's origins, I bought it at the Toledo Toy fair a couple of years ago. Then the GSP tokens and the Washington thing. I'm really surprised to hear that's from the 1930s!
Next row-the Sunoco coin is probably some sort of offical thing. My dad brought that home too. It's aluminum and on the back engraved in is No. 811. The Red Point and gas ranges medal were addresses. The YMCA token is another that my dad brought home. I don't know how I got the Missouri or Sears items.
All the video arcade tokens on the bottom I've either saved from a video game trip or again my dad brought home after finding them on a bus. I'm thinking the Putts and Prizes and Fun Central might be a little rare as they are not chains but local establishments that issued their own.
The flattened coins are all pretty new. The vertical one on the top left is from Ohio, I got it in 2003. The top one horizontially is also Ohio and depicts a train. The one under that is from Lake George NY but didn't print correctly. The next horizontal one is for Ohio, Birthplace of Flight. Below that is a different cruise ship from Lake George. I got all those myself. The next row is actually a Quarter with Chesapeake Bay Bridge. My dad got this when he visited his best friend who moved to Virginia (It's clearly visible on it as a 1988 P quarter!) Below that is another Ohio one that I got on my first trip to Ohio in 2003. To the right of that is a flattened cent (which I vageuly recall my dad doing around 1990-I have no clue why) and below that is a soap box derby, again from Ohio.
The bottom vertical row is Tweety from Sig Flags, which my dad got on the bus, as well as the next one which appears to be a young Donald Duck or one of his nephews. He found that too. Next to that is a prancing Unicorn (no clue where I got it), One that says My Lucky Penny, one that printed wrong that said "I love you", one from Fort William Henry NY, and I can't make out or remember the last one
Thanks again for the info! >>
Thanks for the additional info.
It's very difficult to get a good feel for the availabilty of these things until they're
twenty years old or more. It takes time to see how many are discarded and how
many were made. Distribution methods can confound estimates even for 100 years.
They are really state issued coins since there generally weren't restrictions
on their usage and restrictions were generally ignored. This resulted in many
people buying candy bars with "10" of the 5m tokens or otherwise using them
as cash. Indeed, this is the very reason that the Secret Service forced the
states to discontinue their use; they were illegal state issued coins.
I've always wondered why they aren't collected as coins. Most of them are a
little tough in uncirculated condition and gems were rare the day they were
issued. Most have been discarded or lost over the years. While all the major
types are readily available that's probably because there are only a few hun-
dred collectors. There are numerous rare and scarce varieties.
The red OPA tokens also exist with a series of blue ones. There's one scarce
letter combination and one pretty tough one. There are probably still a couple
million of these in existence but many are lost in storage. They're a fun collection
especially if you're finding them a few at a time. For some reason uncirculated
versions are pretty common. They likely just weren't used extensively and the
few which were are far less likely to survive. I read a story recently that these
were made early in the war at, I believe, Osbourne Register Company, in Cincin-
natti, Ohio under very heavy security. They were made in an extremely brief per-
iod and there were so many they filled an entire train.
<< <i>I've always wondered why they aren't collected as coins. Most of them are a
little tough in uncirculated condition and gems were rare the day they were
issued. Most have been discarded or lost over the years. While all the major
types are readily available that's probably because there are only a few hun-
dred collectors. There are numerous rare and scarce varieties. >>
Some promotion of these as coins probably wouldn't hurt. It would help to have the American Tax Token Society change their name to the American Tax Coin Society. NGC has been expanding the number of things they slab so if they start slabbing sales tax tokens / coins, this may also increase interest.
<< <i>
<< <i>I've always wondered why they aren't collected as coins. Most of them are a
little tough in uncirculated condition and gems were rare the day they were
issued. Most have been discarded or lost over the years. While all the major
types are readily available that's probably because there are only a few hun-
dred collectors. There are numerous rare and scarce varieties. >>
Some promotion of these as coins probably wouldn't hurt. It would help to have the American Tax Token Society change their name to the American Tax Coin Society. NGC has been expanding the number of things they slab so if they start slabbing sales tax tokens / coins, this may also increase interest. >>
There are actually enough on these in aggregate to support a mass market so
it's entirely possible that it might happen some day. Now you can put a complete
set of about 100 pcs together for about $5 but if there were any demand nearly
half of these would be hard to find.
There really a fun collectible no matter what they're called.
<< <i>
<< <i>
<< <i>. Now you can put a complete
set of about 100 pcs together for about $5[/ q]
Well...I think I've found something new to collect!! On a VERY limited budget I need to look for the cheapest stuff possible.