British Co-op tokens general and unidentified

[Figleaf]

A very worthwhile collecting area, with much to discover. Most of the trade tokens were good for milk or bread. Those with a value in £sd are dividend tokens. The only dealer I know who carries such tokens extensively is our member PW. Similar tokens were issued in other countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

Peter

[malj1]

From the TCS website...

Edit see Reply #20 for new updated website

[More information will be found there]

Catalogue of co-operative checks & tokens 2nd edition 2004 compiled by D.R. Rains Available from the author at £10 including postage & packing ~
19, Swithland Court, Pinfold, Braunstone Town, Leicester, LE3 2TY

I have an earlier one by the late Steve Cribb, Co-op Tokens & So On

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I bought Rains. In several places, he makes a difference between tokens in tinned iron and zinc plated iron that are otherwise the same. While tin is more greyish and zinc more blueish when oxidised, they both look  silverish originally and when the top layer is worn off, the difference would become invisible, I suppose. So how do you differentiate between the two coatings?

Peter

[FosseWay]

I bought Rains. In several places, he makes a difference between tokens in tinned iron and zinc plated iron that are otherwise the same. While tin is more greyish and zinc more blueish when oxidised, they both look  silverish originally and when the top layer is worn off, the difference would become invisible, I suppose. So how do you differentiate between the two coatings?

Peter

I don't

It's a bit like "brass" with coins. KM (and no doubt other catalogues) sometimes allocate different (sub-)numbers to issues based on a difference in composition of non-gold, non-magnetic yellow metal that AFAIK is entirely impossible to distinguish without carrying out invasive metallurgical tests. I'm fairly anal pedantic detail-conscious when it comes to defining, describing and allocating type numbers to varieties, but even I have my cut-off points for what's worth differentiating. When it comes to composition, I make the following presumptions:

- If it's magnetic but clearly neither stainless steel nor pure nickel, it's "iron". It may or may not be coated with something, which may or may not be zinc and may or may not have worn off.
- If it's yellow but not gold, not magnetic and not notably lacking in density (so not aluminium), it's "brass".
- If it's silver-coloured but not actual silver and not magnetic, then it's "cupro-nickel". I know it's an established term, but I dislike the term "white metal", basically because it's not white. If you've got a white coin, it's probably oxidised zinc and wants chucking in the non-ferrous metal recycling at your local tip.

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That sounds pretty practical. I usually go one baby-step beyond that approach: if the coin is described as existing in one metal, I am prepared to use the name of that metal, e.g. if yellow euro coins exist only in an alloy that is commercially known as Nordic gold, I don't mind calling it that.

Clad coins have the added problem that on the "early" ones, the cladding wears off rapidly. A funny example is the Polish 10 and 20 fenigow 1917 in zinc. US cataloguers carry them as a separate type. Polish cataloguers know that the type is zinc-clad iron and take the iron coins as zinc coins without the cladding.