There are all kinds of tokens. Most folks have used a bus or subway token. People who collect these are known as Vecturists. There are also good for; or trade tokens. Merchants in the past often didn't have enough change readily available. This was particularly true in small towns in out of the way areas. There solution was to make there own. They would contact a die sinker (maker of tokens) and put in their order. When the token was given in change, the merchant instantly had a profit. Generally a token cost 1¢ or so and a common denomination was 5¢. If the recipient never returned, the merchant made four cents more than the sale he made!!! Also included in the exonumia category are watch fobs, encased cents, advertising tokens, town centennial's also known as municipal trade tokens, love tokens, counterstamped coins, etc.