Goetz Open Feather 0-10 Telephone Token

Goetz Open Feather 0-10 Telephone Token


Origin	Unknown
Type	Token
Effects	When used in a simple coin toss and allowed to land on the ground after asking a simple question like, “Where can I get a lot of cash money?”; then the arrow on the coin will point in a direction, and where it points is the answer it gives but only to a place close by to them.
Downsides	It causes the user to focus too much on getting what they ask for up to the point of obsession after multiple uses.
Activation	Using the coin in a coin toss and asking a very simple question.
Collected by	Artie Nielson, Mr. Stall, Myka Bering, Pete Lattimer, Claudia Donovan, Steve Jinks
Section	Cheque-832J
Aisle	770-6135
Shelf	95204-1763-900
Date of Collection	Jan.2.2013
[Source]

Origin[]

According to information on privateline.com from a 1995 article in Numismatic Review by Christopher Batio, "The first major evolution in telephone tokens occurred in 1907 when a Chicago druggist named Henry Goetz patented a round token with a cut in it running from the center to the edge. The token could only be used in machines with an attachment over the coin slot that admitted tokens of the same shop.

This innovation came about mainly because store owners throughout Chicago Telephone Company did not sell tokens, individual shopkeepers and tavern owners did.

At the end of each week the phone company would send someone around to empty out each phone's token box. The shopkeeper would have to reimburse the company for the 77.5 percent of the activations that occurred, whether they were performed with a legitimate token or a slug. He kept the rest for himself. This practice was instituted in 1901 after the Chicago Telephone Company was cheated out of $110,000 worth of phone calls by slugs.

Obviously, the businessmen whose phones were plagued with slugs were losing money and welcomed the new Goetz system. The tokens and the restrictive attachments were manufactured by the Yale Shot and Slug Co. of Chicago, and soon they were on every pay phone in the city.

The tokens helped cutback on the use of slugs, but innovative thieves were soon cutting slots into their worthless lead discs and the troubles started all over again. To combat this "counterfeit" token threat, Goetz kept coming up with more and more intricately cut tokens, and eventually adding grooves and eventually using grooves. Although Goetz-type tokens were used only in Chicago, other phone tokens were used in some areas of the country."

Today[]

After finding the wet floor sign, the group of agents (led by Artie) tracked down the robbers as they were planning another robbery that same day. As they took care of the members of the group, Artie faced off against the leader who had the token, and after a brief discussion Artie told the man that the token was making him more obsessed with obtaining money, which in turn made him (the robber) work faster and made the mistake of using the sign which drew the agents to them. Artie managed to beat the robber by distracting the man long enough to knock the token out of his hand, which caused the robber to try to get it as he was under its influence, allowing Artie a clear shot.