Sunoco Millennium Coin Series, Oddity

Description

This is a strange token. The obverse design is from the 10-piece Sunoco Millennium Coin Series issued in 1999. The series was a Sunoco gas station giveaway and the coins are not hard to find. Looking at the obverse, it appears to be a regular production coin from that series, 31mm in diameter, struck with a brass planchet as usual. The reverse, however, is blank. I have never seen or heard of one of these tokens issued with a blank reverse. Of course, there had to be a reverse die in order for it to be struck. The reverse die (or whatever was taking the place of the die) is flat with lots of tiny bumps – no lettering or design at all. It does not appear to be an error. It looks like the reverse die was intentionally prepared and used. (Item #106)