The Romans produced about 13 distinct and different styles of these erotic tokens, their exact use has not been written down for our benefit, and one can only speculate regarding their particular use or value. The reverse of these tokens typically had a roman numeral. Modern erotic tokens have incorporated these designs; often the obverse of the modern token is one of the thirteen original designs and the reverse represents one sign of the zodiac - a fitting pattern since the zodiac has twelve symbols and well matches the number of the 13 original obverse designs.
This guy's paper on the topic is fascinating, he provides some sound reasons why they may, in fact, actually be gaming markers:
They have been produced in the US up until about two years ago.
Here's my take on the brass ones in the US:
Erotic Tokens or Brass Checks (or cheques) were most recently (typically) used by entertainment emporiums as ‘good for’ some service, typically an entry to a show. The majority of erotic tokens (also known as 'burlesque', 'adult' or 'exotic' tokens) I have listed are likely from the early 1970s and would have been used in peep show arcades, usually in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. We purchased an estate lot via a dealer from Santa Cruz, Ca where a woman collected these coins in the late 1970's and early 1980s. Based on her inventory and pricing we established a basic, if imprecise, determination on the relative rarity/value of these tokens.
Erotic tokens are just a subset of “good for” token. These chits substituted for currency. In many boom towns on the frontier actual coinage was in short supply. Hence, merchants would use issue tokens good for trade in their store. These also served as coupons and advertising. Also, use of privately issued coinage would enable the merchant to minimize or even evade paying taxes. Brothels have always been a good place to launder money for services and avoid the taxman. The IRS actually operated a brothel that it took from Joe Conforte for tax evasion, once in the 1980s and once in the 1990s. Tokens tell a fascinating tale of mercantilism.
We currently have in stock one brothel token (The Den - Goldfield, Nv) and have seen many more. Eventually the public brothels disappeared from most towns (expect in Nevada) and the tokens lived on through use in the peep show machines of the early 1900s, and later, the adult bookstores. Beginning in the 1980's the bookstores began replacing machines that accepted tokens with machines that only accepted dollar bills. Hence, the use of erotic tokens has stopped, by and large, and are therefore no longer being produced and have become obsolete.
If you want, you can see about nine or ten of the designs on my page here:
Comments
<< <i>I wonder if it was a 'Buy one, get one free' token???
yes, double your pleasure, lmao.
the Roman invasion of Britain in the 1st Century A.D.
Probable???? That's the biggest LOL I've had all day! Isn't this the OLDEST profession???
bob
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spintria
The Romans produced about 13 distinct and different styles of these erotic tokens, their exact use has not been written down for our benefit, and one can only speculate regarding their particular use or value. The reverse of these tokens typically had a roman numeral. Modern erotic tokens have incorporated these designs; often the obverse of the modern token is one of the thirteen original designs and the reverse represents one sign of the zodiac - a fitting pattern since the zodiac has twelve symbols and well matches the number of the 13 original obverse designs.
This guy's paper on the topic is fascinating, he provides some sound reasons why they may, in fact, actually be gaming markers:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/51228927/Spintriae
They have been produced in the US up until about two years ago.
Here's my take on the brass ones in the US:
Erotic Tokens or Brass Checks (or cheques) were most recently (typically) used by entertainment emporiums as ‘good for’ some service, typically an entry to a show. The majority of erotic tokens (also known as 'burlesque', 'adult' or 'exotic' tokens) I have listed are likely from the early 1970s and would have been used in peep show arcades, usually in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. We purchased an estate lot via a dealer from Santa Cruz, Ca where a woman collected these coins in the late 1970's and early 1980s. Based on her inventory and pricing we established a basic, if imprecise, determination on the relative rarity/value of these tokens.
Erotic tokens are just a subset of “good for” token. These chits substituted for currency. In many boom towns on the frontier actual coinage was in short supply. Hence, merchants would use issue tokens good for trade in their store. These also served as coupons and advertising. Also, use of privately issued coinage would enable the merchant to minimize or even evade paying taxes. Brothels have always been a good place to launder money for services and avoid the taxman. The IRS actually operated a brothel that it took from Joe Conforte for tax evasion, once in the 1980s and once in the 1990s. Tokens tell a fascinating tale of mercantilism.
We currently have in stock one brothel token (The Den - Goldfield, Nv) and have seen many more. Eventually the public brothels disappeared from most towns (expect in Nevada) and the tokens lived on through use in the peep show machines of the early 1900s, and later, the adult bookstores. Beginning in the 1980's the bookstores began replacing machines that accepted tokens with machines that only accepted dollar bills. Hence, the use of erotic tokens has stopped, by and large, and are therefore no longer being produced and have become obsolete.
If you want, you can see about nine or ten of the designs on my page here:
http://www.coinmine.com/Inventory/inventory_tokens.htm