tokens, medals and coins

[Keleum]

I'm reading threads about civil war tokens, and first spouse medals & coins I'm confusing myself here.

 

What's the "legal" difference between token, coin and medal.

 

I assume the US has a legal definition of the difference between a coin and a medal, what is it? Can the US mint never issue a token, can a state ever issue a coin?

 

 

 

[James_OldeTowne]

I don't know if there really is a "legal" definition, but I'll take a stab. My guess is that in the legal sense, a "coin" is issued by a government entity and backed by a guarantee of value. So, a Roosevelt dime is guaranteed by the United States to be redeemable for the value of ten cent's worth of merchandise or whatever.

 

A token is issued without a governmental guarantee. I can issue a "five gidget" token worth nothing with regard to the United States government, but I might privately guarantee that if you redeem the token with me, you will get "five gidget's" worth of rocks, or cat hair, or whatever it is I am using to back the token.

 

Finally, a medal has no value in trade. It is just an artistic object.

 

Of course, in a non-legal sense, "coin" refers to ALL coins and tokens and anything else manufactured to be used to represent value in the channels of commerce.

 

These are guesses on my part, and I look forward to having my guesses corrected by more knowledgeable board members.

[rbrown4]

I think it all depends on the forum in which these terms are being used. They each have their specific, "official" definitions, however I believe that they are many times interchanged however when done so, I believe it should be clarified as to why and what specifically is being referenced. A coin is issued by governmental authority as money however it can also be used when referring to something resembling a coin especially in shape, something used as if it were money.

 

A medal is an object often resembling a "coin" with a design or depiction of some sort on it representing or commemorating a person, event or achievement. They can also be "artistic", religous, the list is endless.

 

A token is something given, developed or used as a right to something, or a guarantee of something, sometimes with monetary value. A token can also, like a medal, resemble a coin and be issued as "money" by a person or group other than an official government. Such as a token that looks like a coin but is used as a bus fare, trolley fare, etc.

 

I may be a little confusing here, but essentially I view them as three different objects, which they are in the strict sense, however the terms are many times interchanged for descriptive purposes. Exampe - The Flip of the Coin in football, it is not a coin in the official sense, but could easily be called a token, a medal or a coin.

 

Rey

[Keleum]

From looking at the US Mint web site, they don't have any "tokens" just medals and coins right?

[James_OldeTowne]

I think they do include "tokens" with some sets. If you look at mint sets from a few years ago, there's a "P" token and a "D" token in them, just as an example.

[cpm9ball]

I think they do include "tokens" with some sets. If you look at mint sets from a few years ago, there's a "P" token and a "D" token in them, just as an example.

 

They even made plastic ones like those that came with the Blue Ikes.

 

Chris

[Zoins]

I think they do include "tokens" with some sets. If you look at mint sets from a few years ago, there's a "P" token and a "D" token in them, just as an example.

Unofficially, I would consider those more properly classified as medals instead of tokens because I associate the latter as being used as means of exchange. This fits with what James says about medals: "Finally, a medal has no value in trade. It is just an artistic object."

[cladking]

A token represents something else. It can represent money or just about anything. Writing evolved from tokens used to represent farm assets. As these tokens became more complicated people realized that their symbols could represent other things as well and letters were invented to represent sounds.

 

Medals commemmorate people, places, ideas, or events.

 

Coins are legal tender. They are money.

[BillJones]

Coin is a piece of money to which a government has given monetary status. Its legal tender status might be limited to a degree. For example I think that cents are legal tender only up to 50 cents. Therefore if you want to get back at someone to whom you owe money, you can't satisfy the debt legally by dumping a dump truck load of cents on his front lawn.

 

A token is piece that is a substitute for money. Usually provide concerns strike or make these pieces, and those concerns or clients of those token makers distribute the pieces. There is one series of Civil War tokens that was made by the U.S. government. Those were the pieces that struck and sold at the Philadelphia Sanitary Fair of June 1864. They are known in bronze, silver and gilded bronze. Tokens have no legal tender status, and their value is dependent upon the public’s acceptance of them.

 

The distinction between tokens and medals can become blurry. Usually a medal is larger, but there is no set definition for size between a medal and a token. Medals usually don’t circulate in place of money, but in hard times that rule can go by the wayside. Medals are often saved more as souvenirs or pieces of art, but tokens can have the same use. And some of us use the word “medalets” to describe smaller medals that were not intended for circulation. Many of the presidential campaign pieces that were issued during the 19th century are called medalets.

 

Edited to add:

 

The First Spouse pieces indeed are issued as both medalets and coins. The gold pieces have a stated legal tender value, $10, while the medals have no legal tender value. For whatever reasons, collectors are more interested in coins than they are tokens or medals. For that reason the $10 gold coins will make it to the Red Book while the tokens will be most likely forgotten.

 

A decade or so ago the mint issued a fire fighters' medal for Benjamin Franklin. The piece was struck on a silver eagle planchet, but it was not given a monetary value, like a dollar. Today that piece is largely forgotten. If it had been given a face value it would be a widely listed commemorative coin.

 

[Keleum]

So something like the silver liberty dollars would be tokens, some will accept it for goods or services but not recognized as legal tender?

 

Is there an equivalent numismatic term for paper "tokens", ie "coupons". That serve the same purpose as tokens? Disney Dollars, etc.

[BillJones]

So something like the silver liberty dollars would be tokens, some will accept it for goods or services but not recognized as legal tender?

 

Is there an equivalent numismatic term for paper "tokens", ie "coupons". That serve the same purpose as tokens? Disney Dollars, etc.

 

I'm not sure what "silver liberty dollars" are.

 

Disney Dollars would be something like tokens that could be redeemed by a certain merchant. During the Civil War some U.S. merchants issued their own paper money which they would redeem for goods and services. Cities also issued paper money during the Civil War. There are more varieties of these than most collectors realize.

[Keleum]

Here's a write-up on silver dollars from the US Mint NORFED’s "Liberty Dollars"

 

From a numismatic view point, (not making a commentary on the politics), do these kinds of items (disney dollars, liberty dollars, etc) have a "name", or are they just considered "not money".

 

 

 

[BillJones]

After reading the mint article, I'd characterize these Liberty dollars political pieces. As the mint says they have no legal tender standing.

 

Disney dollars are merchant's -script that is redeemable at the parks. They have advertising value and some people, including my wife, collect these pieces.