Bid on a bit of toll history - an early Garden State Parkway token (FREE AD) (+DISCLAIMER)

Jerry Stutts now 78 has always been a collector, he tells us, but he's gradually selling off collectibles to supplement his social security income. He wonders if any readers are interested in buying from him a 1952 Garden State Parkway token. Dated 1952 it must be one of the first tokens to be used in  automatic coin machines (ACMs) anywhere because we know the Garden State Parkway was where they were first deployed, and it was opening in stages around that time.

Taller & Cooper of Brooklyn manufactured the machines, the first to have a basket into which motorists could throw coins. Slot machine mechanisms go back much further but they weren't suited to road use because motorists can't reliably pull up close enough to place coins or a token in a slot.
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Stutts tells us:

"This token is one I got a long time ago when I was in my 20s and probably driving my 1947 Mercury with the lowered rear end and customized. I lived in Jersey City and traveled the turnpike and the parkway back and forth to Asbury Park pretty regularly.

"I always held on to new things that came out and this token was one of them. It didn't have much toll machine wear so I put it in a box with my other trivia items. It made the moves with me every place I lived. Moved out of NJ to Virginia in 1995 and it came along with a bunch of other items that I've sold that were deemed collectible such as Casino chips starting in 1977 that I  got from each one that opened.

"So they helped supplement my Social Security (now being 78).  Now I'm trying to see if there is anyone who was a saver like myself that would be interested in a piece of GSP history.Here are a couple of pictures, front and back to show it.

"Thanks, Jerry"

He can be contacted at bearcat1737@verizon.net

TOLLROADSnews 2009-02-07

DISCLAIMER: We're now worried that this may not be a genuine token as described by Stutt. Read

http://www.tollroadsnews.com/node/4057

Collectors beware.

TOLLROADSnews 2009-03-16