these are called manufacturers stock tokens. When a die cutting company or token manufacturer made a sale they would leave these with the customer so he could begin using them right away. He would only honor his own number. When the order was delivered he would return the tokens he still had and pay for the outstanding tokens. These can rarely be attributed to anything but a state and the same exact number could and was used in multiple states at the same time. They usually have three, four or five digit numbers. brass is a little more common than nickel or nickel-plated brass. exanimo, ss