Sweden: Mosebacke Gångbro, Stockholm

[FosseWay]

Mosebacke Gångbro is a footbridge linking the top of Mosebacke with the lift (Katarinahissen) that takes you down to sea level near Slussen.

In addition to the lift tokens (discussed here) there were tokens issued for the bridge. The following variants are noted in Stockholmspolletter. I also give my type number as a key to the attached scans, for those pieces I have in my collection.

5.A.10.1: 3 öre. Brass, 27 mm. Star at bottom of obv. Rev. blank

5.A.10.2: similar, Sporrong's older stamp (oval) on rev.

5.A.10.3a: similar, rosette at bottom. Sporrong's small (15 mm) new stamp with stars in legend. Type 9229.

5.A.10.3a: unlisted variant. On the obverse, the rosette is more of a blob, and the dots on the Ö of ÖRE are higher and wider apart. On the reverse, Sporrong's 15 mm stamp has dots (or very small stars) in legend. Type 9791.

5.A.10.3b: as last but larger Sporrong stamp.

5.A.10.4: as 3a but bronze. Type 9626.

5.A.10.5: as 3a but zinc. The dots on ÖRE are more like 3b. Type 8797.

5.A.10.6: 5 öre, triangular (15 mm sides). Rev. blank. Type 12689.

5.A.10.7: 3 öre, similar to 6 but 14 mm sides.

A concordance with Smith requires more work. Basically:

Sweden 820IL: Brass 3 öre, with narrow (3 mm) numeral.
Sweden 820IM: Brass 3 öre, with wide (5 mm) numeral.
Sweden 820IN: Zinc 3 öre
Sweden 820IO: Bronze 3 öre
Sweden 820IK: Brass triangular 5 öre.

The triangular 3 öre is not listed in Smith.

Smith lists as variants far more differences in Sporrong's stamp than Stockholmspolletter does. Neither book addresses in a consistent fashion the differences in the rosette, star or dot at the bottom of the obverse, nor the differences in the dots on the letter Ö. I really need more pictures, or actual tokens, to examine to be able to check the Smiths' classification of the Sporrong stamp and classify the obverse differences, but this is at least a start.

[Figleaf]

You seem to have quite an impressive collection of Swedish tokens, Fosseway. Built up in little time also. I had never even seen a Swedish token until I got the Katarinahissen token.

You already mentioned that it is not clear how the Mosebacke Gångbro tokens were used. Could it be that Mosebacke Gångbro was a ferry destination? IIRC, the Katarinahissen tokens were entered into a machine in front of, or in the elevator. That would be quite impractical for a triangular token. However, several ferry tokens are triangular.

Peter

[malj1]

A good listing of these interesting tokens and helps a great deal in explaining the mysterious listing in the Smith's catalogue and especially to those of us that have no Swedish.

I shall keep a watch out for more pictures.

[FosseWay]

You already mentioned that it is not clear how the Mosebacke Gångbro tokens were used. Could it be that Mosebacke Gångbro was a ferry destination? IIRC, the Katarinahissen tokens were entered into a machine in front of, or in the elevator. That would be quite impractical for a triangular token. However, several ferry tokens are triangular.

Mosebacke Gångbro itself is unlikely to be a ferry destination - it is several dozen metres above sea level. Ferries do depart from the other side of the main road at the base of the lift, but that is a fair distance from Mosebacke Torg. I also don't know whether the ferries always went from where they go from now; the current ferry pier may date from the remodelling of Slussen in the mid-20th century.

Looking at Google Earth, though, the bridge is today split into two (the KF building lies between the lift and Mosebacke Torg). In the earliest days this wasn't the case, and there was one long bridge to the hilltop. The KF building was erected in the 1930s, at the same time the lift was replaced. See the two pictures below, both from Wikipedia. I therefore wonder whether people who simply wanted to go on the bridge and not use the lift could pay for this with the MG tokens, while people using the lift paid for it using the Stockholms Stads Hiss tokens and got free passage across the bridge. The bridge is, and before significant building was even more so, a good viewpoint, and there have always been various restaurants/pubs associated with it, so it can be regarded as a destination in itself.

[malj1]

I see there are many pictures on the web nowadays, I saw one with many people standing on the bridge, obviously it was considered a fine lookout.

Your second one above is almost the right angle as used on the token.

[Globetrotter]

Careful,

under every bridge there is a troll, who wants to have the passage paid....... or! In Scandinavia that is.

Ole

[scroggs]

heres 2 more slightly different tokens
mb2 is 5.A.10.2 with the older sporrong stamp
mb3 is the same as 9229 but with a different sporrong stamp

[FosseWay]

mb3 seems to be the value side of 9229 and the Sporrong side of 9791 - look at the Ö and the stars/dots in the Sporrong stamp respectively.

The two variants of the Sporrong stamp are probably covered by Smith - I just haven't got round to working out which RV number applies to precisely which diameter stamp with what number of dots, stars or pellets yet.

But AFAIK the value-side differences are uncatalogued, except that Smith claims that the 3 comes in different sizes, for which I have yet to see any evidence.

Actually, a very worthwhile project for WoT would be to illustrate all the RV numbers (plus any other variants that the Smiths don't include - I'm sure there are several). It fries my brain to try to correlate two separate written descriptions - the ones for our forthcoming Gothenburg book and Smith, and would be much easier with pictures.

[Figleaf]

Go ahead, FosseWay. WoT is open to you.

Peter

[scroggs]

IF you measure the tops of the 3 on the front , some are 3.5mm and others are 5mm thats the only difference i can find

[Figleaf]

The dots of Ö in öre are arranged differently also and there seems to be a serif on top of the Å of GÅNGBRO. The ornament (flower?) at 6 o'clock looks smaller on the lower picture.

Peter