what law forbids tokens the size of coins?

i still have a bunch of tokens that say bally that are .957 got from a
token lot on ebay long ago some of them say "for forstroelse endast"

now i got a lot of tokens and found one with a cruise ship and 25 on
the back works in my arcade machine that takes quarters

just wondering if it is worth more than .25 or should i just pay for
parking with it

i went to a token makers site and they say its illegal to make a token
within .030 of a us coin so do i have illegal booty?

i like using them in my arcade machines so my so called friends don't
steal my quarters

i cannot find any thing about them there seems to be no sites with any
reference to .957 size bally tokens(thats what my digital calipers say
thay are)

ps
anybody have any chuck e cheese tokens cheap?

Never heard of tokens having a law governing their size.
I have 15 or twenty Chuck E Cheese tokens.
Dale

wrote in message
m...
i still have a bunch of tokens that say bally that are .957 got from a
token lot on ebay long ago some of them say "for forstroelse endast"

now i got a lot of tokens and found one with a cruise ship and 25 on
the back works in my arcade machine that takes quarters

just wondering if it is worth more than .25 or should i just pay for
parking with it

i went to a token makers site and they say its illegal to make a token
within .030 of a us coin so do i have illegal booty?

i like using them in my arcade machines so my so called friends don't
steal my quarters

i cannot find any thing about them there seems to be no sites with any
reference to .957 size bally tokens(thats what my digital calipers say
thay are)

ps
anybody have any chuck e cheese tokens cheap?

There are regulations in the USA limiting the size of tokens to certain
limits, limits outside the tolerances of machines detecting US coinage.
This insures the tokens cannot be used in parking meters, vending
machines, etc., as legitimate US coinage.

I ran across these about 2.5 years ago, when I was researching mints to
do the RCC Tokens. IIRC, they were imposed by the US Treasury Dept.

Dale Hallmark wrote:

Never heard of tokens having a law governing their size.
I have 15 or twenty Chuck E Cheese tokens.
Dale

wrote in message
m...

i still have a bunch of tokens that say bally that are .957 got from a
token lot on ebay long ago some of them say "for forstroelse endast"

now i got a lot of tokens and found one with a cruise ship and 25 on
the back works in my arcade machine that takes quarters

just wondering if it is worth more than .25 or should i just pay for
parking with it

i went to a token makers site and they say its illegal to make a token
within .030 of a us coin so do i have illegal booty?

i like using them in my arcade machines so my so called friends don't
steal my quarters

i cannot find any thing about them there seems to be no sites with any
reference to .957 size bally tokens(thats what my digital calipers say
thay are)

ps
anybody have any chuck e cheese tokens cheap?




--
Buzz Huse, MCSE+I, MCSE Iter Sine Fine (Journey Without End)

"These opinions/comments are entirely my own and no one else's."

How about tokens being used for tokens in other places? A number of years ago
it was found that the Connecticut Turnpike toll tokens (value 25 cents) would
also work in the NYC subways (value at the time IIRC was $1.00). Of course,
there are no more tolls on the CT Turnpike, and the Metro card has replaced the
use of tokens on the NYC subways.

I didn't know that! makes perfect sense though.

Dale
sometimes it is the obvious that I can't see.




"George V Huse Jr" wrote in message
. com...
There are regulations in the USA limiting the size of tokens to certain
limits, limits outside the tolerances of machines detecting US coinage.
This insures the tokens cannot be used in parking meters, vending
machines, etc., as legitimate US coinage.

I ran across these about 2.5 years ago, when I was researching mints to
do the RCC Tokens. IIRC, they were imposed by the US Treasury Dept.

Dale Hallmark wrote:

Never heard of tokens having a law governing their size.
I have 15 or twenty Chuck E Cheese tokens.
Dale

wrote in message
m...

i still have a bunch of tokens that say bally that are .957 got from a
token lot on ebay long ago some of them say "for forstroelse endast"

now i got a lot of tokens and found one with a cruise ship and 25 on
the back works in my arcade machine that takes quarters

just wondering if it is worth more than .25 or should i just pay for
parking with it

i went to a token makers site and they say its illegal to make a token
within .030 of a us coin so do i have illegal booty?

i like using them in my arcade machines so my so called friends don't
steal my quarters

i cannot find any thing about them there seems to be no sites with any
reference to .957 size bally tokens(thats what my digital calipers say
thay are)

ps
anybody have any chuck e cheese tokens cheap?




--
Buzz Huse, MCSE+I, MCSE Iter Sine Fine (Journey Without End)

"These opinions/comments are entirely my own and no one else's."

On 13 Nov 2004 19:23:08 -0800,
) wrote:

i still have a bunch of tokens that say bally that are .957 got from a
token lot on ebay long ago some of them say "for forstroelse endast"

now i got a lot of tokens and found one with a cruise ship and 25 on
the back works in my arcade machine that takes quarters

just wondering if it is worth more than .25 or should i just pay for
parking with it

i went to a token makers site and they say its illegal to make a token
within .030 of a us coin so do i have illegal booty?

I don't know the exact law, but I have read several places that laws
were enacted about 1944 that forbid US tokens the same size as US
coins. These laws do not apply to tokens made for use overseas.

The cruise ship token is probably not worth more than $0.25, but be
aware that the parking meter companies will consider it a "slug" and
it is proabably against the law to use it in a parking meter.

Regarding your arcade machine, some coin acceptors can be set to
accept *both* US quarters and 0.984 size tokens.

Found some info on it, at, of all places, the US Mint website:

http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/index...&action=policy

[Well, DUUUHH!! Why didn't I think of Googling it first?!?!?!?]

Numismatist wrote:
How about tokens being used for tokens in other places? A number of years ago
it was found that the Connecticut Turnpike toll tokens (value 25 cents) would
also work in the NYC subways (value at the time IIRC was $1.00). Of course,
there are no more tolls on the CT Turnpike, and the Metro card has replaced the
use of tokens on the NYC subways.

--
Buzz Huse, MCSE+I, MCSE Iter Sine Fine (Journey Without End)

"These opinions/comments are entirely my own and no one else's."

) wrote in message om...

i like using them in my arcade machines so my so called friends don't
steal my quarters

In every state of the United States, and in most civilized countries
of the world, defrauding someone is a crime. Using a token, of
whatever size, that is not a U.S. coin, in an arcade machine, parking
meter, soft drink machine, etc., etc., is a deliberate attempt to
cheat the owner of the machine. Admittedly unless someone gets caught
selling large numbers of tokens for that purpose, or using multiples,
they aren't going to be prosecuted. That doesn't make it any less
dishonest.

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 02:24:15 GMT, George V Huse Jr
wrote:

Found some info on it, at, of all places, the US Mint website:

http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/index...&action=policy

Important portion: "This statement of policy does not prescribe
mandatory specifications concerning the size, composition or other
requirements for metal tokens."

Another example of a government agency's opinion masquerading as law.

BLReed

To e-mail me, remove the obvious spam trap.
For collector coins and supplies at fair prices: http://tinyurl.com/pt9r
Cool things and Bust Coin Forum: http://www.byronreed.com

(satootoko) wrote in message . com...
) wrote in message om...

i like using them in my arcade machines so my so called friends don't
steal my quarters

In every state of the United States, and in most civilized countries
of the world, defrauding someone is a crime. Using a token, of
whatever size, that is not a U.S. coin, in an arcade machine, parking
meter, soft drink machine, etc., etc., is a deliberate attempt to
cheat the owner of the machine. Admittedly unless someone gets caught
selling large numbers of tokens for that purpose, or using multiples,
they aren't going to be prosecuted. That doesn't make it any less
dishonest.

The U.S. Code title 18 addresses this. Being a token minter I have to
watch for the specifications regarding conflicts with coinage of the
USA, which do not always pertain to size only. There was an instance
some years ago when Osbourne coinage made an advertising token for
some fertilizer company (I think, I could not find the original
article, but it was in Coin World), that was issued in the upper
midwest. The token was of legal size for a token, either .984" or
1.000", but it was in white metal with a washington head on the
obverse and the companys' ad on the reverse. The Washington head
looked good enough that the tokens began to circulate and eventually
ended up in the cash registers at area businesses, at the local
banking institutions, who informed the secret service, who had a fit,
and had all the tokens widthdrawn and/or Confiscated. So it is not
only size restrictions that token manufactures must be aware of. Also
as per regulations in the mentioned code, in some of the other
sections around sec.491, I have to be aware of conflicts with local
currencies when we ship to international customers. Some years ago we
had a "prospective client" who had an address in Miami area that
wanted a series of 6 coins with these really nice looking sculptures,
one with a starfish, a pineapple, a sail boat, a blue marlin, etc,
with a nice coat of arms common on the reverses of these "tokens".
They wanted 150,000 of each size. When I reviewed the art work I went
to the sales manager and said this is the national currency of the
Bahamas we can not do this, and I referenced the title 18 section 4xx.
We contacted the prospective client via their answering machine and
amazingly enough the client evaporated as none of the contacts proved
valid and the phone number became disconnected. There have been
several other occaisions where our overseas clients had to alter the
size, alloy, or design for an overseas job because of a local currency
conflict, but these were all legimate. But it is a area that we must
be vigilante with because a foreign government could complain to the
US government and we could be held accountable. Foreign token makers
issue tokens that are very close to US coin sizes for use national
areas. These manufactures have to comply with whatever national laws
they have, if any, concerning token sizes and local coinage sizes. We
make millions of tokens that are the same size as foreign coins, but
these are intended for use and sold in this country with the
appropriate markings as required by law. If some of these tokens are
taken overseas and used we have no control over this and it is the
individual that is breaking the law. It is the same with foreign
tokens that find their way into the U.S. And it is the individual that
uses the tokens in a fraudlent way that is in violation of the
mentioned code. This is a "cross-use" or "cross-play" situation in
vending and gaminig machines. I do not think the problem is as bad in
the U.S. as the 2 Euro / Thailand 10 Baht problem that is raging in
the Eurozone, but it still is a problem that plauges the vending /
gaming industries.

Link to Title 18, PartI, Ch.25, Sec 491:
http://uscode.house.gov/uscode-cgi/f...20%20%20%20%20

Sean Moffatt
Operations Manager
Hoffman Mint