| Author |
 Replies: 49 / Views: 6,604 |
|
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
7276 Posts |
Great thread!
I learned a lot!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
For further information and some original sources I'd recommend The United States Clad Coinage" 1992 by Ginger Rapsus. It does a good job of setting the tone of the era and the thinking of the principles of that time. There were alternatives and some were probably much better (such as a nickel alloy) but clads are a result of committee thinking and government. While base metal was the reason I had no interest in this "garbage" when it was new, at least it was very high tech and a good compromise among the various interests. Silver is obviously too expensive for usage as small change and enough deflation to keep 1964 quarters in circulation would have been even more devastating to the economy than the inflation that has pushed them up to $4.50
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3207 Posts |
Great stuff, I've wondered about this topic for decades, a heartfelt thanks to the various posters who filled in details.
|
|
Moderator
 United States
188560 Posts |
A very interesting discussion with plenty of information. Worthy of a bookmark.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
4592 Posts |
-----Burton 50+ year / Life / Emeritus ANA member (joined 12/1/1973) Life member: Numismatics International, CONECA Member: TNA, FtWCC, NETCC, EveryCountry (online) coin club Owned by three cats and a wife of 40+ years (joined 1983) Author: 3rd Edition of the Sample Slabs book, https://www.sampleslabs.info/ |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
Quote:Everything and more than you wanted to know about the traditional US payphone except the coin acceptor piece we're worried about here: http://dougkerr.net/Pumpkin/article...ditional.pdfand https://www.smithsonianmag.com/hist...e-180952727/ It turned out that the coin rejectors made for telephones didn't work especially in Illinois because people discovered they could easily pound a piece of lead into nearly worthless amusement tokens and they would pass for a nickel. This led to coin slots on phones that were made to accept only a very oddly shaped disc of metal that callers had to purchase from the establishment which operated the phone. The amusement tokens filled with lead are referred to as "plug nickels". Most of these telephone tokens were made from the 1910's to the 1930's and most seen have significant wear. Some are rarely seen in Unc or AU condition. Many were melted in the scrap drives of WW II. Most were made in batches of 1000 but some were in larger orders. Many types are quite scarce. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=telephone...es&ia=imagesTime don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
Edited by cladking
08/30/2023 4:10 pm
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
Huh! I just discovered that Numista has a section on US telephone tokens and there's a very inactive club on the net for them. https://en.numista.com/catalogue/in...&ttte=y&p=10Curiously Numista lists only about 20 different tokens and not all of them are common issues. There are several hundred different Illinois telephone tokens including reorders. There's even one for the World's Fair which for some unknown reason is quite uncommon. Vending machines and other coin operated machines have been a big part of the US economy for over a century. Nickelodeons were common back in the 1890's. These were parlors that changed your nickels into amusement tokens which are another very difficult collectible. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
807 Posts |
The telephone tokens with the grooves were widely used in Europe after the Second World War. I have one (probably an amusement arcade token, with the mystifying text "Galaxy World" and a crude illustration of a ringed planet, not listed on Numista yet so I'll probably try to add it) in my collection of space-related coins, tokens, and exonumia.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
Quote:
The telephone tokens with the grooves were widely used in Europe after the Second World War. I have one (probably an amusement arcade token, with the mystifying text "Galaxy World" and a crude illustration of a ringed planet, not listed on Numista yet so I'll probably try to add it) in my collection of space-related coins, tokens, and exonumia. I've seen this token. I don't know anything about it if it's the same one I've seen but I classify the cu/ ni version as a modern NJ amusement token because of the name. IMS it says "good for one play" on it. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
807 Posts |
Quote:
I've seen this token. I don't know anything about it if it's the same one I've seen but I classify the cu/ ni version as a modern NJ amusement token because of the name. IMS it says "good for one play" on it. The one I have is yellow (presumably brass, non-magnetic) and has no text aside from "Galaxy World". All the designs are incuse outlines. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
OK. I found it.
I have three different ones that are incuse and have two grooves on the back. two have the number "16" in the middle and are more common than the version with no number. In aggregate there are 9 tokens from this source. I know little about them except they are modern amusement (arcade) tokens and likely New Jersey. The previous owner of one of them like yours identified one as GBD/ M-UNID but I don't recognize his categorization system.
Alpert and Smith list it in "modern unidentified" as GBD B 23 Sd. There are lots of young people who have been working on these since the days I was in the loop.
There are a lot of opportunities in 20th century tokens and lots and lots of rarities. Entrance costs are nominal and educational opportunities extreme. Most of my collections are for sale. But even acquiring these tokens one at a time is still very easy and inexpensive. Nobody really knows the common issues from the rare.
The mind boggles at the numbers of tokens and clad coins that have been through the machines. Most of those old clad quarters have been through a machine dozens and dozens and dozens of times and through counting machines thousands of times. It's a wonder there are any old clads left in circulation at all since they were designed to last only thirty years. They have greatly exceeded expectations because they are so durable most are lost or destroyed before they have a chance to wear out.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2271 Posts |
Quote:
"Nickelodeons were common back in the 1890's. These were parlors that changed your nickels into amusement tokens which are another very difficult collectible." I was mistaken about this. "Nickelodeons" were actually movie houses where you could see short films. They tended to have a bad reputation due to the types of movies but were very well attended. Apparently the places that had many vending and other types of machines were just called "arcades". These terms may have morphed over the years and this is per google searches which are often misleading. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
807 Posts |
cladking, "Odeon" was a name often used for theatres and cinemas, in memory of a famous theatre of Classical times. The Odeon of Herodes Atticus is along one side of the Acropolis of Athens, and because the top of the Acropolis is very slippery, I narrowly avoided falling into it when visiting there. Beware!
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1748 Posts |
There was a lot of work by the Battelle Institute before the switchover and they did a good job by choosing the DuPont Detaclad material. From what I read, it was chosen due to its durability, its match with the electromagnetics of the silver coins and its anti-counterfeit properties. The copper core is very hard to counterfeit.
Ginger Rapsus's book is very good.
Edited by DoubleEagle20
09/03/2023 5:39 pm
|
|
Valued Member
United States
354 Posts |
Wow what an interesting subject! For all the years I've been handling coins I never questioned composition. Makes me look at coins in a new light.
|
|
|
Replies: 49 / Views: 6,604 |
|
First Page
Previous Page
Posted 08/30/2023 10:01 am
