Most of us , me included give amusement tokens a wide berth , but surprisingly some of them do have amazing histories.( Automatic Vaudeville Token comes to mind)
Sam Newton , a very colourful character in the early Durban entertainment scene was one of the people in the then Durban that made the evening scene on the beach fronts more entertaining.
Mr Newton was a connoisseur of fine arts and he believed he should show his acquired art to the people who visited his "Wonderland" on the beach.
In 1942 he issued his penny token to be used in his slot machines , this was in a time when Tokens as barter or currency was actually banned , however the laws regarding this was changes so often even the Police trying to enforce this was not sure what was law. In 1949 the law was fixed and it was illegal to use tokens as barter or currency.
Mr Newton had an arrangement with the local Postmaster that he would purchase back any token found in the local post office stamp machines , these where using the similar size in coins and often people would use it to "purchase" stamps.
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