Token

“ By the same token—or by the inverse ratio of the same token—the persons who are building the house invariably begin to have doubts and misgivings regarding the worth of their own pet notions in regard to the said house the moment some outsider offers a counter argument. ”

“ Furthermore, that the adventurer might lack no possible advantage towards a fair start in life, this excellent old dame gave him a token, by which he was to introduce himself to a certain magistrate, member of the council, merchant, and elder of the church (the four capacities constituting but one man) , who stood at the head of society in the neighboring metropolis. The token was neither more nor less than a single word, which Mother Rigby whispered to the scarecrow, and which the scarecrow was to whisper to the merchant. ”

“ The fraction of a concrete quantity may itself not exist as a concrete quantity, but be represented by a token. Thus, if we take a shilling as a unit, we may divide it into 12 or 48 smaller units; but corresponding coins are not really portions of a shilling, but objects which help us in counting. Similarly we may take the farthing as a unit, and invent smaller units, represented either by tokens or by no material objects at all. ”

“ From his hand then draweth Sigurd Andvari's ancient Gold;
There is nought but the sky above them as the ring together they hold,
The shapen ancient token, that hath no change nor end,
No change, and no beginning, no flaw for God to mend:
Then Sigurd cries: "O Brynhild, now hearken while I swear,
That the sun shall die in the heavens and the day no more be fair,
If I seek not love in Lymdale and the house that fostered thee,
And the land where thou awakedst 'twixt the woodland and the sea!" ”

“ Various substances have been utilized for the manufacture of token coinage—silver at a lower degree of fineness, copper in different alloys, and nickel. The French term monnaie divisionnaire has much the same meaning; so has the German Scheidemünze. A currency, restricted in amount, but with full legal tender power—such as the Indian rupees and the French 5-franc pieces—is midway between token and standard money. Representative money also bears some analogy to token coinage. ”

“ The token or obligation must be for a less sum than a dollar. 2. It must be intended to circulate as money, or in lieu of the money of the United States. Here the note is for 'goods,' to be paid at the store of the Furnace Company. It is not payable in money, but in goods, and in goods only. No money could be demanded upon it. ”

“ By offering you payment in tokens of woe.
Join, O ye pay clerks, my loud lamentations,
Come my ill luck sympathetic deplore:
On discount you reckon’d, but such expectations,
Alas! my good friends, you must cherish no more.
Tokens! God help me! why, why should I make them!
Neither will Pitmen or Keelmen now take them;
E’en in their wagers, they scruple to stake them,
Oh! none must I issue but tokens of woe!
No more of his sorrows the muse hath recorded,
Tho’ tunefully still he bewail’d his sad fate ”

“ Many other instances of ring-tokens might be mentioned, but the limits to which this work is confined prevent me from enlarging on the subject. I will merely allude as a [Pg 352] memorable instance in modern times, to the ring-token presented to George III. on his birthday in 1764 by his Queen. It was a ring splendidly ornamented with brilliants, and contained an enamel in which were the portraits, exquisitely represented, of their children. ”

“ It would save a world of letter-writing to a person who does not care to write letters, and it would be a very pleasant token to receive when all other such tokens are impossible. For people leave their cards on a mourner, and never know whether they have been received or not. ”

“ But vain are my labours, the tokens won’t pass!
Vain too is thy friendship, dear Butterfly Billy,
Of all my supporters, most noisy and silly;
Wilt thou still take my tokens? sweet daffa-down-dilly:
Oh! those which I issue are tokens of woe!
Vanity whisper’d me, “John thou art clever,
“Thy neighbours beyond their own noses can’t see;” ”

“ They commonly consist of the christian and surname of the issuer, his trade or occupation, and the town or village in which he resided. Usually on the ordinary disc-formed tokens this inscription is between the outer and inner circle of dotted lines. [76] On the field, within the inner circle, is usually the value of the coin; the initials of the issuer and his wife joined together with a knot; trade-company, town, or family-arms; tavern or shop sign; device, indicating the handicraft or trade of the issuer ”

“ One man or woman is making a will, and asks you to be one of the witnesses to the signature and sealing; another is betrothing a son or daughter, and invites you to be present and attest the ceremony; another has a son of fifteen or sixteen concerning whom it is decided that he has now come of age, must put on the white toga of a man in the place of the purple-edged toga of the boy, and be led into the Forum in token of his new freedom; you must not omit the courtesy of attending. Another desires you to go with him before the magistrate while he emancipates a slave. ”

“ The Traders’ Tokens of this kingdom, properly so-called, are confined, in issue, to the seventeenth, eighteenth, and early part of the nineteenth centuries—those of the first of these periods being the most numerous as well as, in most respects, the most interesting. Though not coins in the ordinary sense, not having been issued by kings or governments, they play a more important part in the history of the country than even the regal pieces do, and the information to be derived from their study is not only valuable but in many instances entertaining. ”

“ At first the thought of the great stake for which she was playing in terms of currency, with the head of Jim’s father on every note, was much with her. The amazing nature of the offer of five millions of dollars stimulated her imagination, roused her; gold coins are counters in the game of success, signs and tokens. Money alone could not have lured her ”

“ The emblems, amulets, and charms so implicitly believed in a few centuries ago are objects numbered among collectable curios, valued even in this prosaic age not only for their intrinsic worth and antiquarian interest, but for the so-called magic influences they were supposed to possess.
There is something more understandable about love tokens, for we can tell their purpose, and indeed to-day, stripped of the charm which was often supposed to go with them, love tokens are given, received, and valued just as much as they were in the past. ”

“ Arms of cities and towns are found not only on those tokens which were issued by corporations, mayors, or other bodies or officials, but by some tradesmen. Of the first an example or two will be sufficient:—
Obv. THE MAYOR OF = A shield bearing the arms of the city of Oxford; an “Ox” crossing a “Ford.” ”

“ Once again, simplicity is the key. What do subway riders use to gain entrance through the turnstiles? Tokens. Let us suppose that on this same given day the majority of tokens distributed are all fractionally larger than normal. Not enough to be noticed, mind you, but just enough so they cannot pass through the slots and activate the mechanism. ”

“ The best, indeed only worthy, book on the general subject of seventeenth century tokens is Boyne’s, published in 1858, in which close upon ten thousand examples are carefully and minutely described.
Of the more modern tokens—those so abundantly issued during the thirty years preceding 1818—and of the silver tokens of the latter part of that period which, including the Bank Tokens, number some four hundred varieties, I purposely abstain in this little work from giving any particulars. ”

“ When individuals of different race or nationality formed friendships they were wont to confirm the pact by an exchange of tokens, which remained as heirlooms in their respective families, and were prized by their descendants as pledges of mutually kind and hospitable treatment. ”

“ By limiting tokens, silver, and paper money, to the amount needed for business, and promptly receiving or redeeming all that might at any time be in excess, all these forms of money could be kept in circulation, in large amounts, at par with gold. ”

“ In such unabashed dependence most of us spent our early years. And if as we grew strong fewer gifts of money came to us, their place was taken by loving tokens more subtle, more pervasive, and coming68 from more sources. ”

“ Pounds, shillings and pence are recognized covenanted tokens, the outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual purchasing power, but till in actual use they are only potential money, as the symbols of language, whatever they may be, are only potential language till they are passing between two minds. It is the power and will to apply the symbols that alone gives life to money, and as long as these are in abeyance the money is in abeyance also ”

“ He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1785 to 1802. At the close of the eighteenth century he executed the dies of the following provincial tokens, all of which are creditable works of their kind: Anglesey penny (Pye, Provincial Copper Coins, pl. 28, 3) ”

“ Let us obey the laws of God, the laws of no Christian nation should conflict therewith.
As the value of a coin is largely determined by its purchasing power, so the value of a religion may be partly determined by its cost and largely by the blessings it will bring. Becoming familiar with the coin issues of our country the careful, prudent man is able in many ways to detect counterfeits. Note for instance the authorized issue of gold twenties. Above the eagle, the nation's emblematic coat of arms, and surrounded by stars and rays of light are the words, "In God we trust;" ”

“ I did know the secret of the buried treasure. He had some way of knowing the extent of my knowledge of the matter. He was, so far, all truth; I was prevaricating—and we both knew it! All at once he spoke; as though his mind were made up, and he would speak openly and frankly. The frankness of a Latin was a fell and strange affair:
"Why shall we beat about the bush. I know; you know; and we both know that the other knows. I have read what you have written of the secret which you have drawn from those marked pages of the law book." ”

“ The figure on a coin, the inscription, its shape and power, all signify the attributes of Christ, who is the figure of the King, His Father's substance, the Word of God; whose eternity the endless circle of a coin denotes, and whose omnipotence it partly imitates. ”

“ To the regarder of externals, genuine and base coin are alike.
How can he know what is inside the basket?
Many are the gold coins made black with smoke,
So that they elude the clutches of greedy thieves;
Many are the copper coins gilded with gold,
And sold as gold to men of slender wits.
We who regard the inside of the world,
We look at the heart and disregard the outside. ”

“ And when you hold up a coin at arm’s length and look at the sky, the coin covers no less than two hundred of those suns, each with their different little worlds circling round them. And you then begin to realise what an enormous endless space the Heavens comprise. ”

“ This Lion is distinctly a beautiful coin, admirably made, with its value in fine, clear letters circling the obverse side, and a head thereon—of Newton, as I live! One detects American influence here. Each year, as we shall find, each denomination of coins celebrates a centenary. The reverse shows the universal goddess of the Utopian coinage—Peace, as a beautiful woman, reading with a child out of a great book, and behind them are stars, and an hour-glass, halfway run. ”

“ Let us suppose the person whose fortune is being read to be a lady, represented by the Queen of Hearts, and that fifteen cards have been obtained and laid out—in the form of a half circle—in the order they were drawn, viz., the Seven of Clubs, the Ten of Diamonds, the Seven of Hearts, the Knave of Clubs, the King of Diamonds, the Nine of Diamonds, the Ten of Hearts, the Queen of Spades, the Eight of Hearts, the Knave of Diamonds, the Queen of Hearts, the Nine of Clubs, the Seven of Spades, the Ace of Clubs, the Eight of Spades. ”

“ Ideas resemble coins which have a certain exchange value according to written and unwritten laws. Some are copper coins, so defaced and dirty that no one would suspect from their looks that they had once sparkled like bright gold. ”

“ If you will follow him as he opens right and left a crowd that surrounds a table heaped with lumps of gold and silver coin, you will see how carelessly he throws down a piece of metal, looking sharply into the eye of the cunning dealer of the monté cards. ”

“ Should you desire to regain possession of the coin, have the outside pocket made communicating with an inside one on the same side of the coat; when, having shown the right hand unmistakably empty, you produce the coin thence, in a magical manner. ”

“ What little gold and silver coin there is found in circulation is mutilated; every piece of money, large and small, has been subjected to the ingenious punch, and thus has lost a portion of its intrinsic value. ”

“ I have staked life upon the pursuit, and all that makes life valuable. And why should I not stake fortune also? 'Fortune buys fortune,' says the old adage; and as the stake is great, so shall my game be bold. ”

“ All that remains for you to do now is to make believe, in the most dramatic manner possible, that the coin is travelling up the body, along the arm, and into the chosen hand, whence you let it fall on to a table or chair. ”

“ Covet, therefore, that everlasting gift, that one thing which it is certain is going to stand, that one coinage which will be current in the Universe when all the other coinages of all the nations of the world shall be useless and unhonored. ”