Newspaper Token

[Afrasi]

This piece was not made for advertising. It was given to you as small change buying the mentioned newspaper. Using this token you could buy the next issue the following day for "free".

Little quiz (no prize ):

In which country was this piece in use? 

[malj1]

We had a News Day newspaper in Melbourne Australia some years ago but it did not survive for very long.

I have a copy of Number one.

[Figleaf]

The material and the capitalization in the middle of the word say it's more modern. Here is my candidate.

Peter

[Figleaf]

Dagblad van Noord-Brabant (en Zeeland) saw fit to advertise that in 1931, it boasted a paid circulation of 32 000. They argue on the other side that the larger the circulation, the lower the price for ads is. Maybe. In the centre are some population centres in the South-West of the Netherlands.

Peter

[Figleaf]

A local newspaper operating in the South-East of the Netherlands, Limburger Koerier, seems to have found the idea of a metallic ad attractive. It issued an advertising medal of the same size (about the size of a silver 1 gulden) and metal (aluminium). It is also dated 1931, but the circulation figure is significantly higher, at 50 000. Yet, they promote small ads for 60 cents. I think this was the smarter strategy. Anyone may feel like placing a small ad but large ads are sold to companies, a much smaller target for a token that seems best suited for liberal distribution.

The above token came from a dealer. The token below was a gift from a metal detector pilot.

Peter

[malj1]

See also this thread. Weekly Telegraph £100 token

[Afrasi]

Figleaf got it right. The first shown plastic token is from Zimbabwe.

Since 2008/2009 there was a hyperinflation ending in abolishement of the Zim$ in April 2009. since then is the US$ main currency accompagnied by the coinage of the RSA and Botswana. As there were no US coins and not enough coins from RSA and Botswana there was a serious lack of change for small amounts.

Since 2009 there are again independant newspapers like the NewsDay in Harare. One exemple of this newspaper costs 0.5 US$ or 5 ZAR - cheaper then most others costing 1 US$. The street sellers were usually not able to give the change. So this token (called "Cupon") was invented to enable the street sellers to give change. With this token you could get it the next day free.

This token was in use at Bulawayo in May 2011. There exist some similar other tokens - all from Newsday.

Most informations come from Münz-Goofy (MG).

[malj1]

The Regiment Weekly. 1d Subtitled "An illustrated military journal for everybody"
 Silver and a tiny 11.5mm.
A magazine about the army which was aimed at the general public. c1896 - 1917