sparsely to 99880, with a rash of numbers for 60001
to 60240.
Most common are the brass nickel-size ones
with a central hole. Older nickel-size ones with the
number in the center are also numerous. Similar
quarter, dime, cent and half dollar size numbered
tokens also exist. There are many different types
and varieties of the numbered tokens, as many dif-
ferent token manufacturers must have made them,
over a long period of time.
To complicate things, there are different orna-
ments used on the reverse of the token. They do not
occur randomly, but follow a pattern. From about
5000 to 20000 a "+" ornament predominates; from
20000 to 28700 there's an 8-pointed star, from
28700 to 32000 it's a dot; and so on. The same num-
ber may occur with several different ornaments. So
the ornament may have significance, and could be
part of a code.
Token collector, cataloguer and historian
Kenneth Smith puts forward a theory that the num-
bers are codes that can identify the specific opera-
tors, and the code is based on a simple decoding
wheel. The wheel is a cylinder containing letters of
the alphabet, with a rotatable numbericial ring at
top, laid out as follows :
123456789 0
ABC DE F G H I J
KLMNOPQR ST
UV W X Y Z
The last digit of the number ( or maybe the orna-
ment) may indicate how many spaces to rotate the
number ring. For example, the number 35054
occurs on many stock tokens that may have been
made by the Northwestern Stamp Works of St. Paul.
rotate the ring 4 units to the left and you get:
56 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4
ABC DE F G H I J
KLMNOPQR ST
UV W X Y Z
Using this to decode 3505, you can find a S
under 3, and A under 5, a P under 0, and an A under
5, giving SAPA, a possible abbreviation for Saint
Paul. Another very common number, 12439, could
decode as MNPO, for Minneapolis. With some
fudging you can get many other interesting but
inconclusive or coincidental results, using other
common numbers.
Another theory is that the numbers were
assigned by the token makers, based on order form
numbers, to keep track of the operators who wanted
an anonymous custom numbered token. This way
the operator would only redeem tokens with his
number, and not any old stock token with phrases
only.
It seems the oldtime operators still around today
aren 't revealing what the numbers actually repre-
sent, as if the numbers were associated with past
illegal gambling activities. I'm hoping that there is
an old list or book around some where that gives the
name and address of the operator corresponding to
each different number. Old token exhanges should
have had such a reference list, to get the stray
tokens back to the original issuers. All that token
collectors desire to know is the town where each
numbered token was used, as tokens are usually
collected and catalogued by state and town.
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