Out of all of the inventions to come out of the United States Treasury, I hadn't realized the value of the soda token until recently. In New York buying an LIRR ticket with a $10 bill, the machine gave me back these yellowish coins a little larger than a quarter. "Great," I said, "what do I do with these, trade them one-for-two for $2 bills?"

But then I discovered their true purpose. Rather than futzing with the bill reader on the soda machine at work (only slightly less irritating than the T's Charlie Ticket fare gates), I can put one of these magic soda tokens into the machine, and get a cold can of Coke and a quarter out! Much easier than trying to pick out four dimes, two nickels, and a quarter from the loose change in my pocket, particularly since the soda token is the largest coin I have.