Big A token

[rodgerdodger]

I found this at Oronoco,Mn. at the old baseball field. The land back in 1866 through 1926 might have been owned by a A.D. Allis or his son. A.D.Allis owned a grist mill not far from the ball field in 1866.
The token might not have anything to do with A. D. Allis.

Both sides have the big A and is just a bit smaller than a nickel.
I think it is made of brass.

If anyone has seen or know what this was used for let me know. Thanks

[idahotokens]

From all appearances, this is one of the "Amusement Tokens of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Area", although it is not listed in the reference of that name by Kenneth Smith, as published by the Token and Medal Society in 1976. They generally can be recognized by the diework. They were used, as Smith says, with "the pinball machine craze (that)hit Minnesota's twin cities in the early 1930s and, at first, rewarded winners with money. However, this gambling was quickly outlawed. To circumvent the law, pinball machine operators ordered nickel size tokens most of which read 'good for 5¢ in trade,' but these were also outlawed. The pinball machine operators then resorted to nickel size (21 mm) with identical or dissimilar legends on both sides. The complaint against these tokens was that their nickel size implied they were good for a nickel. Token manufacturers then went to a 20mm token, which remained as the principal amusement machine token in the twin cities for about 10 years."

There is a similar one, good for 5¢ in trade, on tokencatalog.com:
Unidentified Town, Minnesota, U.S.A.

WM R 21 [CA1]

A GOOD FOR / 5¢ / IN TRADE (Dots in the letter) TC-376059; Alpert/Smith-Amusement 992 Unlisted

I'd encourage you to post pics of yours on TokenCatalog.com, but finding a better attribution than "Twin Cities area" is probably unlikely.

John in the Great 208

[rodgerdodger]

Thanks for letting me know what this token is John. It's greatly appreciated.

[rodgerdodger]

I got it listed.
A (TC-396902) Oronoco, Minnesota (Olmsted County), U.S.A.