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 Replies: 11 / Views: 32,179 |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
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Moderator
 Australia
16829 Posts |
I've seen these posted a couple of times on the forum before; this old thread is the only one I could find on short notice, and the pictures have expired (PhotoBucket...grrr  ). Though the coat of arms is Spanish, I've never seen them anywhere except from American-based posters, so I assume they're made there rather than in Spain. The letters "VB" inside the crown above the shield are presumably the initials of the manufacturer. I can't recall anyone posting any definitive answer on what they were, whether token or game-piece. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Valued Member
United States
331 Posts |
I'm wondering if it might be some type of beer token. "VB" for Victoria Bitters ( a popular Australian beer) perhaps?
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New Member
 United States
6 Posts |
There's one other piece of information that I forgot to state. I've located stock designs #1521 and #0836 for the designs on the obverse and reverse (which one is which I don't know). I contacted tokensdirect.com who has the stock designs, but have not heard back from them yet.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
645 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Well, now the plot thickens. I wonder if tokensdirect.com and VanBrooktokens is the same. They have the same stock token numbers for the designs, and these companies are forever changing. I tried to send BanBrook an email to see if they knew anything, but was unable to find an email address for this type of communication. Oh, well, better men than Me have tried to learn about this token, and for the past 9 years or so, no one has. Kinda like looking for D.B. Cooper, lots of clues, but unable to find out anything for sure.
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
Well, now, I just received a call from the token minter. Tokensdirect.com advises that they make this token in 3 different sizes, including the size I have of 28.6 mm. It is a general purpose token used by a number of their various customers for vending machines, arcades, games, etc. Since it is general purpose used by many different businesses, it cannot be attributed to any one use. The two tokens I have are of brass, and chrome plated brass. Terrible thing to go to all that trouble just to find that it has no specific purpose or value. Guess its worth more as scrap metal than anything else.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1391 Posts |
That is the way most maverick tokens are. Even when you can track down who makes them it doesn't always help. Most customers don't pay to personalize the tokens. This has been a problem for as long as tokens have been used. I have several U.S. trade tokens and several of them look very similiar, except the name of the store is different. The tokens are from different states, but probably made by the same company (or two token companies got the same die company to make dies for them :D )
Now, as for it being work more as scrap metal. If you like tokens you can always keep them. Some people collect as many tokens of different types as they can. Personally I like my tokens to be identifiable (or hane something on them that catches my eye). But other people like to give homes to maverick tokens.
Some people spend many years trying to identify a token in their collection. I know of people who have found tokens metal detecting and were never able to identify them. I know of a token (I don't own it) that even has a name of a person, the store, and the town/state on it. The only problem is that nobody remembers the store ever existing in the town, there is no records of the person or the store in the newspapers or directories either. Strange huh? So I don't see it as being a terrible thing, with tokens you get used to dead ends.
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New Member
United States
6 Posts |
A couple of items I forgot to mention are that the VB stands for Van Brook as someone previously mentioned. It seems that tokensdirect.com and Van Brook actually were incorporated into Osborne Coinage Company, but they kept their stock token designs as well as the design numbers. These tokens are also used in vending machines, so trying to attribute it to any particlar type of business is futile..as the Borg said, "Resistance if futile". Boy, I guess this burst the bubble of a lot of people holding this token. I actually spoke with someone from Community Ventures at 1-859-259-0316. This must be a clearning house for various ventures.
Regards,
Bill
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Moderator
Australia
16829 Posts |
No research is wasted if the results of the research are published; it saves people in the future trying to replicate that same research all over again. It's good to finally have definitive answers about these pieces. You can be sure future posters will be directed to the answers found in this thread.  Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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New Member
United States
1 Posts |
One gentleman in this thread mentioned a friend who had a token with the store name as well as a mans name on it and being unable to find any further info on it. I would suggest doing a search on the Chronicling America web site for those names. They have a huge amount of old newspapers archived there and stores do advertise. Might get lucky. I do have one of the tokens that are pictured in the first post in this thread.
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Replies: 11 / Views: 32,179 |
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Posted 01/02/2013 09:15 am
