Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Three Sample Transportation Tokens Metal Detected on Florida Beaches. |
Yesterday I was talking about tokens. Today here are a few common examples of transportation tokens.
Going left to right.
1. Parking Token
2. Garden State Parkway Token
3. Metro-Dade Transportation
The parking token doesn't have a specific location on it.
If you detect very much around Miami you probably have found a lot of the MetroDade ones.
One thing about a resort area, you'll find things from all around the country and world.
The above tokens are common and not very interesting, but here is one that could be older and would be worth a little more if it wasn't in such poor condition. It is brass or bronze.
This token is more rare than those shown above and it would be much less likely that you would find one just like it, yet if you look on eBay at any given time you'll probably find one or more like it for sale. While it might be rare for an individual to find, it is certainly not rare when you consider the number that are available.
The internet makes things less rare by more widely dispersing items and knowledge of existing examples. That is the effect of modern commuications technology.
Things that were easy to sell for a good price twenty years ago can not be sold at all now because of the large number of existing examples for sale on the internet. That makes items that were difficult to find, study and acquire much less rare than they were back in the day when you had to network and go out and find examples for yourself. I guess that is one way of saying that it is now a much smaller world.
Back to the above token.
I hope you can see the figure of the Indian on it. At the top of the token it says PONTIAC. On the bottom of the same side it says, "CHIEF OF THE SIXES." THE SIXES is clear on this token but not the rest of that phrase.
The back says "PRODUCT OF GENERAL MOTORS" The back has a wreathe around it, looking very much like a coin, except for the writing.
I found a number of these being sold on eBay. They are in much better condition than this one, which appears to have been tumbled in the ocean. Unfortunately the item descriptions do not tell the age or anything else, except one person says they were given out in the show room, and another person suggests that they typical of the 1920s or 30s.
If you have more specific information, I'd like to hear what you've learned.
I'll throw another token in today even if it isn't transportation.
This token was evidently made in 1954 to celebrate the 75th year (Diamond Jubilee) of electric lights.The graphics on this token presents the spirit of the era.
As you can see from the inscription on the others side in the picture below, it was all about progress.
My father worked for the electric company so Redi Kilowatt was a very familiar character to me during my youth.
This token got beat up. I don't remember exactly where or how long ago it was found, but I know it was not a recent find.
Of the tokens that I have found some of my favorites are casino tokens. Some of them are made of precious metals and some are fairly valuable.
I think I've shown some of them in this blog including one that was found on a beach but still in a plastic holder that kept it in nice mint condition.
Here is the link.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/feb/04/volunteer-army-archaeological-sites-uncovered-floods
On the Treasure Coast the tides are fairy flat. The weather is very nice for being out on the beach.
The surf is down around two feet and will be that way for a while.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
