New York Subway Token Earrings

It's been over 20 years since New York City Transit has used tokens. For some, that was a lifetime ago. For others, it's hard to believe it's been so long.

For over 40 years, the subway in New York was five cents, so riders used a nickel to get on the train. For five years after that it was ten cents, so the machinery was updated to accept dimes. But in 1953, when the base fare was raised to fifteen cents, well, it complicated things. Without a fifteen-cent coin, what were riders to put in the turnstiles?

The first NYCTA subway tokens were brass and slightly smaller than a dime, with a large NYC in the center. After a few months, they were revised to add a Y-cutout, which allowed people to feel the difference in their pocket between that and the U.S. ten-cent piece. In the 50 years after the dime fare but before MetroCards became the exclusive way to pay for your ride, eleven different styles of tokens were used (per the New York City Transit Museum), but the one best remembered is probably the larger version of the 1953 cutout.

These earrings are made with hypoallergenic, nickel-free, lead-free ear hooks. As we make these ourselves, the varieties offered and prices at Repurposed vary depending on our ability to obtain the tokens and the popularity of each style.

The Small Y Cutout earrings are made from the dime-sized brass Y cutout tokens, which were in use from September 1953 to January 1970. Each token is 16mm in diameter.

The Large Y Cutout are made from the big brother of the previous tokens. They replaced the small on January 4, 1970, and were used for a decade. Each token is 23mm in diameter, or between the sizes of the U.S. nickel and U.S. quarter.

The Diamond Jubilee version was the only token that was not released to mark a price increase. Available starting in November 1979, these tokens were used at the same time as the large Y cutout (for a 50¢ fare) and celebrated the 75th anniversary of the NYC Subway. They were the same size, but had a diamond punch out at the top. They had the lowest mintage of all tokens we offer.

The Large Solid earrings are a millimeter smaller than the previous tokens and similar to the 1970 version, but without the cutout. These tokens went into use on June 28, 1980, when the fare was raised to 60¢, and remained in use until June 2, 1986.

The Bullseye tokens were introduced in April 1986 for a $1.00 fare, and were used concurrently with the large solid until those were retired. These tokens were again the same size, but rather than being solid brass, they had an 8mm wide center of steel.

The bullseye was replaced by the Five Borough token on November 12, 1995. These were minted from red brass in 1991 and intended for use with the January 1, 1992, fare increase to $1.25. Instead, they kept the bullseye and put these in storage until the increase to $1.50. They had a pentagon punch-out in the center, representing the five boroughs of New York City. These remained in use on the subway until the introduction of the Metro Card on May 4, 2023.

There are multiple versions of many of the above with minor differences. Please remember, these are all made from real circulated tokens, so your earrings may look slightly different than those shown here.