Pyongyang Scarce Metro Token

[Kushi]

The aluminum, 23.5 millimeter metro token from Pyongyang, North Korea, is seldom seen and commands a high price. Apparently it was only used for a very short time. Changed photo.

[Figleaf]

That's a treat, Kushi. Thank you. A good reminder of the fact that when the two Koreas separated, the North was the wealthiest and the most industrialised. The economic mess made of the country matches the political mess.

It's the same thing for the coins: hard to find outside the country. Hard for people to get into the country. You don't get to be called the hermit kingdom for nothing.

Peter

[Kushi]

I have a European collector friend who has visited in Pyongyang more than once. Even locally, the token is almost impossible to find.

[translateltd]

Very interesting indeed.  The right-hand photo is upside-down, btw - the legends appear to be the same on both sides.
Interesting from a language perspective - the words Jiha Cheoldo (underground railway) map perfectly onto the Japanese equivalents Chika Tetsudo (words ending in -l in Korean often equate to words in -tsu in Japanese), both of which would be written in characters as 地下鉄道.

[MaximeL]

Hello,

Indeed, the 2 faces are the same but on the upside down directions. The token is very light.

I had the chance to find one on the ground when I went to DPRK last February (lucky me if it commands a high price). Our guide was surprised to see one and he accepted me to keep it (In the DPRK, foreigners are not allowed to have DPRK money, yet Metro token was ok). As tourists, we were only able to have to take the metro with a regular simple "paper ticket" but I am sure that they are not used anymore. Authorities might have kept the Aluminum for other purposes.

[NKtraveller]

Hello, I have one of these tokens. I travelled in Pyongyang first in 2003, that's when I got the token that I had requested from one of my guides. I travelled again in Pyongyang in 2005 and they were then already using paper tickets instead of aluminium token.
Does anyone have any idea about how much it could be worth, like giving me a range and what's the best way to get the maximum price from it? Some place where I could auction it perhaps? I think that to make people aware of the uniqueness of the thing there should be some form of advertising before. Even on the internet you can hardly get any info about it. I found this website and two or three other internet pages with little info on it.