Token

something serving to represent or indicate some fact, event, feeling, etc.; sign:
Black is a token of mourning.
a characteristic indication or mark of something; evidence or proof:
Malnutrition is a token of poverty.
a memento; souvenir; keepsake:
The seashell was a token of their trip.
something used to indicate authenticity, authority, etc.; emblem; badge:
Judicial robes are a token of office.
Also called token coin. a stamped piece of metal, issued as a limited medium of exchange, as for bus fares, at a nominal value much greater than its commodity value.
anything of only nominal value similarly used, as paper currency.
an item, idea, person, etc., representing a group; a part as representing the whole; sample; indication.
Logic, Linguistics. a particular instance of a word, symbol, expression, sentence, or the like: A printed page might have twenty tokens of the single type-word “and.”.
Compare type (def 8).
to be a token of; signify; symbolize.
serving as a token:
a token gift; a token male on an all-female staff.
slight; perfunctory; minimal:
token resistance.
by the same token,

in proof of which.
moreover; furthermore:
She has a talent as a painter, and by the same token has a sharp eye for detail.

in token of, as a sign of; in evidence of:
a ring in token of his love.
Contemporary Examples

HP Board Member Marc Andreessen, an Internet Pioneer, Deserves Some of the Blame for the Company’s Failures Rob Cox November 20, 2012
Obama’s War Crime Michael Ware October 23, 2011
Why George Clooney Will Lose to Jean Dujardin Richard Rushfield February 23, 2012
Debt Talks Back On Howard Kurtz July 10, 2011
New York Times’ New Columnist Is Full of It Michael Kinsley March 15, 2009

Historical Examples

The Pirate Sir Walter Scott
The Call of the Twentieth Century David Starr Jordan
The Plays of Philip Massinger Philip Massinger
The Black Bag Louis Joseph Vance
City Crimes Greenhorn

noun
an indication, warning, or sign of something
a symbol or visible representation of something
something that indicates authority, proof, or authenticity
a metal or plastic disc, such as a substitute for currency for use in slot machines
a memento
a gift voucher that can be used as payment for goods of a specified value
(modifier) as a matter of form only; nominal: a token increase in salary
(linguistics) a symbol regarded as an individual concrete mark, not as a class of identical symbols Compare type (sense 11)
(philosophy) an individual instance: if the same sentence has different truth-values on different occasions of utterance the truth-value may be said to attach to the sentence-token Compare type (sense 13)
by the same token, moreover and for the same or a similar reason
verb
(transitive) to act or serve as a warning or symbol of; betoken
n.
adj.
see:

by the same token
in token of