For Amusement Only Tokens w/ Center Hole - Variations

Hello,

Recently I acquired a bag of 26 “For Amusement Only” tokens with center holes most similar to N#122166.  After some brief looking I discovered that there were variations among the spacing of the letters.  Ultimately I took pictures of each and overlayed them using transparent layers to determine the differences.  In total I found 5 variations among them (possibly 6) and only 1 of the 26 tokens matches N#122166.  Searching the catalog the only other examples similar to the ones I found were N#309375 (no hole in diamond), N#109706 (too small), and N#481833 (too small).  I believe none of my other 25 tokens match those.  Within N#122166 there are 3 other variations listed, 2 of which I believe I don't have, and the 3rd only lists a difference being the size of the hole though they do not list the hole sizes.

I took measurements of each coins weight, diameter, thickness, and the diameter of the hole.  The hole diameters are extremely inconsistent and often are more oval in shape then perfect circles.  I don't know whether to attribute this to variations or, what I feel is more likely, inconsistencies in the manufacturing process/wear and tear.  The thickness also seemed to vary on the same coin.  All the coins appear to be of the same composition and are non-magnetic.  The collection of pictures and measurements for each can be found here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/7wh8q2mn9xvre17/For_Amusement_Only_Token_Variations.zip/file

What I am asking for is some validation about my findings and what I should do next to catalog these variations.  I do not know whether to add them to N#122166, make a new entry, or if we should collect all N#122166 and N#309375 along with mine into a single catalog entry seeing how similar they all are.  Thank you for taking the time to help me with this :)

Hello 🤖

Without pictures, it will be very difficult for anyone to help you. Could you please post clear pictures of each side of your item?

Please note that this is an automatic message. Feel free to ignore if it is not relevant.

These tokens were produced by the thousands by several manufacturers, and when the die began to wear out, another one was remade, with or without variations in the spacing and size of the letters. The small variations in hole diameter don't seem particularly interesting to me; they could be due to die wear or manufacturing variations.
In your Excel file, you've already grouped five different categories. It's always interesting to include examples of different dies in the Numista files for these five different tokens, possibly explaining these differences graphically, as in this file:

N#427693

All that makes total sense.  I definitely think showing the pictures of all the variations is a good idea, my main issue is that I don't know what the right course of action should be regarding the existing catalog entries.  My opinion is that I think we should consolidate the entries along with my variations and just make one catalog entry with them all.  I don't want to create a new entry before a decision can be made about this.

Gathering all these tokens on a single page seems a good solution. 

Now what is important? We are not going to show 26 variations :) 

The weight, the size of the hole, the thickness, the diameter, do not vary much in your excel file. The only thing that seems important to me is the size of the letters and their spacing. 

Once you have clearly defined your 3 or 4 variations (which will be the lines of your single page), take a photo of one coin of each variation (on a black background **, then remove the background with Paint or Removebg), make an explanation as in the example I showed you, post this explanation page on this thread, then when all is clear, we'll contact the Exonumia referee to suggest grouping all existing files into a single one.

** color is better for these brass coins on a black paper, preferably in sunlight:

Thank you for the information about how to better take pictures of the brass coins.  I have been struggling a bit with those as I have been adding items to the catalog.  The photo editing I do know but I still appreciate the help :)

I definitely think there are 5 variations at least.  The only thing I couldn't determine is whether coin 11 had thinner lettering or not.  Hard to tell if my eyes were just playing tricks on me.  I also agree with you that the hole, size, and weight variations are not relevant here, that's why I didn't group them that way.  I will work on getting all this information put together and written up more formally as a response here and let you know.  Thank you again :)

Here are the 5 variations I found with much better images and details about each.  I have swapped what I called variations 1 and 2 since doing so put all the variations in order from largest spacing between the words and diamond to smallest.  Simply put, what was called variation 1 in my original post is now variation 2 and visa versa.  

Variation 1 - Largest spacing between words and diamond.  Medium conjoined denticles on Obverse, small conjoined denticles on Reverse.  Diamond hold inside diamond of both sides.  There is also a distinct overlap of the A and M in Amusement on the Obverse.

Obverse                                                             Reverse

Variation 2 - 2nd Largest spacing between words and diamond.  Medium separated denticles on both Obverse and Reverse.  Diamond hole inside diamond on Obverse, round hole inside diamond on Reverse.  Distinct doubling of Y in Only on Obverse.

Variation 3 - Only slightly smaller spacing from Variation 2.  Large separated denticles on Obverse, small conjoined denticles on Reverse.  Diamond hole inside diamond on both sides.

Variation 4 - Smaller spacing still.  Medium separated denticles on Obverse, medium conjoined denticles on Reverse.  Diamond hole inside diamond on both sides.

Variation 5 - This variation is identical to N#122166.  It is distinctly different in font size and rim shape than the other variations, being much bolder and rounder on both.  Smallest spacing of the variations.  Small separated more spikey denticles on both sides.  Round hole in diamond on both sides.

Combined picture of all variations
Obverse

Reverse

Let me know what you think.  Thank you.

In order to group them all, I think you should mention also the variation of the height of characters on obverse and reverse

N#122166

N#309375

N#109706

N#481833

By height of characters are you referring to the physical size of the letters or the spacing of the words from the center hole?

Both are interesting.

For example, in order to differentiate the reverse of tokens I listed above, I would say:

1) Small letters,

2) Medium letters, close to rim,

3) Large letters,

4) Medium letters, far from rim.

Hello,

Sorry for the immense delay, been quite busy in my work life.  I have evaluated the letter sizes and found that the letter sizes from thinnest to thickest are 3, 1, 2, 4, 5.  This means that they follow the same order for spacing aside from variation 3.  All the letters have the same height and the spacing of the letters between the center hole matches with the order listed above for letter thickness.  From here I think we have all the information we need to combine these and call the referee.  @Frenchlover would you be able to do that as I have never done that before?  Thank you again for all your help with this :)

Remember that the differences must be immediately noticeable to collectors.

I would propose something like:

And some examples listed on Numista get different diameters: 19mm, 21,2mm !