Nah, I don't think I misunderstood. I don't believe those nickle-clad tokens with the Empire's name on them have any value outside of the legal tender law; in fact, having that name may end up being a liability when they come along and say "that's ours, it's got our name on it."

It's the metal that people will accept, the Mercury just makes it recognizable, and since they're still in circulation I can get them relatively cheap.