Israeli Phone Token (Asimon) - Coin Community Forum

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.

Author	Replies: 3 / Views: 7,055
nalaberong Pillar of the Community Canada 2805 Posts	Posted 07/11/2013 9:09 pm I've been meticulously digging through junk bins lately and have been rewarded with a few interesting tokens. Here is my favorite. It was pretty easy to identify: it has symbols of the (dial) telephone, it has both Hebrew and Arabic text (Israel), and it has a very distinctive shape. These aren't my pictures (I haven't got a computer of my own to use at the moment), but I thought I'd share my find anyway (it's the same coin, although the year is likely different): I guess I'll also ask: why do all of these phone tokens have a funny shape? Is it just for easy machine reading? Edited by nalaberong 07/11/2013 9:09 pm Report this Post to the Staff

Sap Moderator Australia 16829 Posts	Posted 07/11/2013 9:26 pm Quote: why do all of these phone tokens have a funny shape? Is it just for easy machine reading? As I understand it, these "notched" or "grooved" tokens were this shape to prevent ordinary coins being accidentally used in token-only telephones. The slot for the tokens on the machine was the exact same cross-sectional shape as the tokens themselves; an ordinary coin couldn't physically fit in the hole. 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 Report this Post to the Staff
Libertad Pillar of the Community Canada 3692 Posts	Posted 07/11/2013 9:34 pm I used to use arcade games that had distinctive tokens that were "wavy" or "ruffled" to prevent ordinary coins from being used to cheat the machines. A barrier in the shape of the token was installed in front of the coin slot and it read the coin by weight, presumably. Report this Post to the Staff
Circus Pillar of the Community United States 3079 Posts	Posted 07/11/2013 10:44 pm Back when they were patented in Chicago around 1910 they were intended to prevent slot machine or slugs in the pay phones. They were introduced by the Yale Slot & Slug Co. Y.S.&S.co. Gotta love the name. When phoning was new you could only use the tokens sold by the store in their locations since they were all different they were later changed to two groves and some have numbers that represent the locations or the id for what size the groves are in a master list Here are some modern version of US ones. pool table ride batting cage arcade RW mint are these examples Report this Post to the Staff
	Replies: 3 / Views: 7,055

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.

All Forums Category: General Numismatic Forums Forum: Tokens, Medals, Challenge Coins, and other Exonumia

The First Dollar, your premier source for bullion and rare coins. See our bullion list on the site and the coin inventory on ebay.

Silver Gold Bull US is the United States leading bullion dealer. We deliver gold coins, gold bars, silver coins, silver bars and precious metals to your door. Order today!

View Last 100 New Topics

View Last 100 Active Topics

Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Coin Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Family- all rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Coin Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited.
Contact Us | Advertise Here | Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

Coin Community Forum

It took 0.2 seconds to rattle this change.