Cozy Bar

Cozy Bar in left center of above photo at Old Style sign. 

Aluminum token,  reverse says "Good for 15c in merchandise," presumably the price of a beer at the time of this token's use.   

Bars and taverns sometimes issued tokens which could be used in payment for future drinks.  When buying a round of drinks for friends, the bartender would give a token to those patrons already having a drink, and collect the full sum from the round-buyer. The owner would collect immediately, and the drinkers would have a token for later use. As the token cost less to produce than the value of the drink, there was a significant profit to the bar owner. Sometimes, drinkers would take the token home, and forget to bring them back. This has been cited as the reason bar owners loved tokens, and they were found in virtually every drinking establishment.  Tokens were also used as change, where the price of the drink was odd. For example, in America for many years, drinks were two for 25 cents, or one bit (12.5 cents) each. Thus some tokens exist with one-bit denominations.

The early tokens were usually made of brass or aluminum and would have the name or initials of the bar on them, so that they could not be used anywhere else. Often, they had the landlord's name on them as well. This ensured that, when the bar changed hands, the new landlord would not have to honor old tokens. Many small, family bars still use tokens today, but modern tokens are generally made of plastic (brass and aluminum tokens are still made, but as they are more expensive, are less used). -- thanks to Wikipedia