....... ........................................................................................ THE FAREIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII BOX ...A... ...Monthly...................... ...News............. ...-Letter...................... ...for.............. Transportation; Token Collectors IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII .. I IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII . .. II NEW ISSUES EDITOR EDITOR ll$I41'li 1110'I13NIIU I. M, CQf1PFU, J 634 ,Ashbnry Street P. 9. Pox 1204 San Francisco, California Poston, Massachusetts 941 ., 02104 New Issues Service Parking Tokens JOKJ G . NICOICO$I DUTNR F. FEWHli 3002 Galindo Street P, U. Box 11661 Oakland, California Palo Alto, California 94001 94306 Volume 27, Number 1 JANUARY, 1973 Our 307th Issue We are includirg a dues envelope with this issue, for your convenience in paying your 1973 A . V.A . dues of $5 .00. We are late with these this year . Please put your $5 in this envelope, put a stamp on it, and mail it to our treasurer, R . K. Frisbee - 211 King Street - Denver, CO 80219. Unlike some other organizations, the A . V.A . has to pay as it goes . It needs your dues money to publish The Fare Box, which is the chief expense of our organiza- tion. So please help by sending in your dues as soon as possible . This year marks the 25th Anniversary of the founding of the American Vecturist Association. Our president, Bob Ritterband, has arranged for the striking of large solid pure silver commemorative medals to mark the anniversary . Only enough of these will be struck to fill actual orders . See inside for further information . Incidentally, this silver anniversary year of the AVA would be an appropriate occasion for members to mark with their own personal token issues . A die of the A . V .A . official seal is available for use on metal personal tokens, which are surprisingly inexpensive, and which may be ordered thru past president Duane Felsel. We are also including the Index to Volume 26 of THE FARE BOX with this issue. This index should be kept with your 1972 issues, at the end of the December issue . We still have a couple dozen copies of the 1963 Second Edition of Atwood's Catalogue on hand. These are taking up a lot of room and we'd like to let members have them at cost . The 1963 edition is actually quite an important book to have if you have back issues of THE FARE BOX, because catalogue numbers used in the ads and Prices Realized in all issues oetween 1963 and 1970 used the numbers in that 1963 catalogue, which are different from the numbers in the 1970 edition. So, anyway, any member who wants a crisp new library copy of the 1963 Atwood may have one for $2 . 00 plus 25¢ toward postage . Send your order to our Offer secretary, Lon Mazeau - P .O . Box 31 - Clinton, CT 06413 . He has the books there . lasts only as long as Dori's cache of Atwoods lasts . This issue goes to press at 6 :30 pm, Thursday, February 15 . f-wuaj •r 141.4,g .bsb /I - L - vu<~ait'i/ ! free download from: www.vecturist.com -Page 2- -January 1973- = THE PRESIDENT'S COLUD'f! _ Because the A .V .A. was organized during 1943, we are now in our Silver Anniver- sary year . The annual convention at Denver just six months hence will put special emphasis on this 25th milestone, as will other plans now under consideration by your Executive Board . One project to be launched immediately will be the issuance of a large Silver Anniversary Medal, to be struck in pure silver . Many vecturists collect medals in addition to tokens, and even non-members will find this new piece appealing . There will only be a limited number of medals struck, at the most reasonable (non-profit) price possible . We aim towards a heritage souvenir which will be exclusive, handsome, and modest in cost, all at the same time . It will certainly not be "just another trinket"! It this kind of collectable appeals to you, read the complete details below . Then act promptly to share in the pleasure of owning one of these fine souvenirs of our progress . - Robe/ t M . R.itweband = SILVER ANNIVERSARY MEDALS - IN PURE SILVER = To commemorate the 25th anniversary of A .V .A . this year, the Executive Board has ordered the issuance of a souvenir medal, which is sure to appeal to many collectors . To be struck in purest .999 silver, the piece will be 39mm in diameter, slightly lar- ger than a silver dollar, with a 12-gauge thickness of nearly 3mm . On the face will be our Association emblem, in good relief, while the reverse will have an attractive "25th" against a shield background, plus the beginning and current years . Around the upper curve will be : "Collectors of Transportation Tok- ens ." An important feature of this minting will be the serial numbering of every piece on the rim, with the original owner's name to be registered in our archives . Serial numbers will be assigned in strict sequence to the receipt of each order . A minimum of 100 pieces are to be struck, with the maximum to be determined by the exact number ordered by collectors before the deadline . No extras will be made for future stock, and no editions are planned in any other kind of metal . The dies will not be available for any later restrikings . By virtue of good mint connections, we are able to offer these exceptional keep- sakes for a price not to exceed $6 .95, including insured delivery to your address . That is, if no more than 100 are sold, the price will be as shown . However if the ordering appreciably exceeds that minimum, our cost per piece will be less . Since this is a non-profit deal, such savings will be refunded promptly in cash to each buyer . (For instance : if a total of 200 are sold, we have good possibility of about a dollar refund to every customer, etc .) Distribution of the Anniversary Medals will begin at Denver in August . To have all of them ready, an absolute deadline for ordering must be set for May 10 . Any orders postmarked after that date will be returned with our regrets . There will be a limitation of five pieces to any one buyer, and full payment must accompany each order . If all of this sounds as good to you as it does to our officers, order your keepsake medal promptly, and receive the lowest possible serial number . Sent your request and check direct to our president, Robert M . Ritterband - 6576 Colgate Ave . - Los Angeles, CA 90048 . Make check payable to ARMOR MEDALLIONS, and include 35C sales tax if you are a California resident . Don't forget that deadline! Port Authority Transit of Pittsburgh will stop redeeming Pittsburgh fare tokens on February 28 . At present they have over 3 million tokens in 256 bags weighing 75 lbs . each . After February 28 all these tokens--they say--will be melted down for bullion . Those bags contain tokens of at least 12 different firms taken over by PAT, probably including some scarce items . free download from: www.vecturist.com -January 1973- -Page 3- = MEMBER AUDITS TOKEN INVENTORY = One of our members recently had the opportunity to audit the transportation tok- en inventory of a medium-sized city bus company . The company had discontinued the gen- eral use of tokens some years ago, but had recently made the tokens available on a limited basis for special uses and merchant promotions . They had never utilized the services of a token clearing house, so their inventory would constitute a good stat- istical sample to measure the extent of intrusion of out-of-city tokens into the fare boxes of a city transportation system . Over the years their counting machines had rejected 72 of the extra-thick San Francisco tokens (Cal 760 D E F), and these had been held out of the regular inventory in order to prevent their recirculation . A total of 68,000 tokens in 17 bags of 4,000 each were searched . Individual bags contained from 254 "foreign" pieces (6 .4 ;%) to 90 pieces (2 .3/) . Overall, 4 .2% of the tokens were from outside the system . This increased to 4 .3% with the inclusion of the San Francisco tokens . At first glance this might seem to indicate that over 45 of their fares had not been paid for . In reality, these tokens represented an unpaid tare only the first time they went into the fare box . They were subsequently resold and reused an in- determinate number of times . In addition, in excess of 50,000 tokens issued by this company have disappeared from general circulation, and represent a net gain of un- redeemed "fares payable" which they may well never be called upon to honor . The member had been collecting transportation tokens for only a relatively short time, and had 600 in his collection at the beginning of the audit . lie was permitted to purchase those tokens which fit into his collection . The first bag yielded 45 pieces, the second 22, and the third 17 . Understandably, it was a case of diminish- ing returns, as more common tokens were picked up in early bags and unwanted when found in subsequent bags . All in all, however, the bags yielded an average of 15 tokens each for his collection, boosting his collection to 850 pieces . No rare or choice tokens were found among the nearly 3,000 out-of-city tokens . This was due in part to the fact that only 16mm tokens were included in the inventory . Incidentally, the inventory of 68,000 tokens was short only 36 pieces, demon- strating an inaccuracy of the counting machines of about one-twentieth of one percent .