1. Home
  2. Hobbies & Games
  3. Coins

Coin Tokens - What are Coin Tokens?

By , About.com Guide

Definition: Coin tokens are coin-like, sometimes quasi-monetary items that usually look similar to coins, but were not issued by a legal government minting authority. Coin tokens include items such as arcade tokens (used to play games in an arcade), commemorative "coins" issued by private mints in base metals, hard times tokens, (issued during the period from 1834-1844 by private merchants, companies, and banks to fill the need for token coinage during a national banking crisis), Civil War tokens (issued by companies, merchants, and banks to fill the need for token coinage during the U.S. Civil War), and many, many other types of non-official, coin-like objects that fit into the generic (non-numismatic) definiton of "coins."

See also: Token Coinage
Examples: Collecting coin tokens is a popular form of exonumia.

Explore Coins

About.com Special Features

Holiday Central

What to eat, where to go, fun things to do and how to save money on the perfect gifts. More >

Scrapbook Technique Gallery

Use these ideas to inspire your own uniquely beautiful pages. More >

  1. Home
  2. Hobbies & Games
  3. Coins
  4. Coins Glossary
  5. T
  6. Coin Tokens - What are Coin Tokens?

©2009 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company.

All rights reserved.