Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Old Nik-O-Lok Token Find. |
Do you know what this one is? I didn't until today. I just looked it up.
Nik-O-Lok isa company that makes locks for pay toileets. Who would have guessed? Not me.
Nik-O-Lok Systems is a U.S.-based company specializing in token- and coin-operated restroom security locks designed to control access to public restrooms and deter vandalism nikolok.com. The brand is best known for its Nik-O-Lok™ locks, which can be operated with manufacturer-supplied tokens or quarters, helping businesses secure facilities, protect patrons, and reduce maintenance costs. (Source: Copilot.)
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| Mr. Bob's Token. |
Here is one I haven't figured out. Copilot said the Mr. Bob's token was from a Mr. Bob web site for token collecting. That is a possibility, and one I would never think of without asking Copilot, however, not having seen one exactly like that, I'm still not sure. Maybe a little more research will solve this one.
What drew my attention to it is the very simple text. I first thought it might be a resaurant or game room or something like that.
Maybe you can find it? Let me know.
Here is another token with a simple message.
While looking through my finds, I noticed a number of Good Luck tokens.
And there were several of these lady heads and tails tokens.
I also have a few of the SUNOCO U.S. President promotional tokens.
Among my most memorable token finds were these numismatic tokens. I remember that day and that find very clearly.
I told the story before. If you are interested, here is the link.
I think my first token find was for a North Miami Cafeteria. It was found at the site where an trailer park once stood near Arch Creek.
I won't go into any more of those right now. I just picked out a few for today as illustrations of the variety that have been found. While doing yesterday's post I realized that tokens like these are pretty much a thing of the past, like coins might be someday.
You might wonder why I even kept them, especially the junkier ones. I wondered that myself, until I thought about it a little.
For one thing, I did sell some of them for a few dollars years ago, but there is a lot more to it than the economic value - as little as that is in most cases.
One kind of token that has more value includes the casino tokens, which are very collectible today - especially those of early historic casinos. Some of those tokens are made of silver. I showed a few of those in the past, such as this one. I don't know if you call these tokens or not. There are probably terms.
I did a few posts on casino token or chip finds in the past.
But for the tokens I'm looking at today, they aren't worth much of anything at all. Some not a cent.
So why did I keep them? The ones I'm showing today aren't the prettiest even though some bear some nice graphics. Some held mysteries to be solved.
But why did I keep these ones? One reason is that I didn't know much about them. I regarded them as both reminders and possibilities. I didn't know what value or interest they might have. And now I know more about them.
When I first saw some of them emerge from the sand, I thought they might possibly be interesting coins. There was that moment of excitement.
I didn't take the time to inspect them thoroughly in the field. At first appearance, I didn't know exactly what promise they held. They stayed in a bag for years.
This morning it occurred to me that these tokens are something like the many people you pass every day and never take notice of. You don't know their story.
Everybody has a story, actually numerous stories to tell. If you take the time to explore and understand those stories, they would often be as interesting as any novel.
You never know who you are passing by, where they've been or what they've done.
An object by itself isn't interesting. You have to be interested. You have to put something of yourself into it.
An object, like a person, is an invitation to encounter, explore, know.
The frustration is that God made such an infinitely wonderous universe, but our capacity to absorb it is so small.
When you make a find, there is the immediate element of surprise. There is the mystery of the moment of encounter. Then later, maybe much later, the significance unfolds.
These tokens, like many other miscellaneous finds, are something like seeds. Some produce and some don't. The effort you put into caring will determine to some extent the product.
These miscellaneous tokens, although they have little to no economic value, took me on a journey. I encountered, explored and discovered. It is about Being conscious. Being now. My intent today was to share that with you.
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Nothing much on the Nhc.noaa.org map. Just a little action moving of North Carolina.
The low tide this morning was nice and low. The afternoon low tide will be negative too.
The heat remains and the surf chart for the Treasure Coast is still very flat with no change expected for a week or so.
Still good for shallow water hunting,
Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net