Katarinahissen lift tokens, Stockholm (KF)

[Figleaf]

Sorry. It was stolen. However, I do remember it as bronze or bronze clad, not brass.

Peter

[malj1]

Sorry I should have realised it was gone.

[redwine]

Mine has a different serif on the middle stroke of the F 
And some different spacing

[malj1]

My piece in hand looks the same but unfortunately doesn't show well in a scan.

Here is my piece on yours where some difference can be seen.

[redwine]

So it appears there are at least 3 varieties of this piece 

[FosseWay]

I'm sure there will be die variants of this - it was issued in large numbers. I'm less convinced that there is a definitively bronze version alongside the brass and wonder whether it's just wear/toning and/or minor variations in the alloy.

[redwine]

I give up

[malj1]

I found another for sale on Delcampe, this too is in brass.

[malj1]

I just photographed mine

[FosseWay]

Here are 12 of these that I found lying around. I've been staring at them for a good 20 minutes and can't really put my finger on anything that is definably different between them, except that the one at bottom right may be in a slightly different alloy as Malcolm mentioned earlier (it looks more coppery).

[malj1]

We were looking at the serif on the middle bar of the F the bottom part of which appears to be a different but I am beginning to think its a trick of the lighting as in hand they all look the same; see your bottom row, 1, 3, and 4.

Can you do a little scrape on the edge of the last coppery looking one?

[redwine]

Yes, 1,3 & 4.
And look at row 2 number 2 & row 1, 4 - the top stroke of the F is nearer to the edge than the others.
Was this lift really that popular that it had to have die variants? How long was it in operation for? [1883-2010]  I should have checked this 
OK, next time I'll look into the history in a bit more detail

[malj1]

Yes row 2 number 2 especially is touching the outer circle.

[malj1]

From Smith

In 1932 both the old Katarina Hiss (elevator) and the foot bridge were torn down.

ln 1935 the new Katarina Hiss (elevator) and the bridge were opened and until 1953 only paper tickets were used.)

(Elevator, bridge, and building of the Kooperativa Foreningen)
IR o B 19 Sd K F (used from 1953 to 1958)   
IS o B 19 Sd (Cirkelkaffe ar Hojdpunkten)(Coffee-bean)
   (IS was only used for a few months)
   (since 1958 only KF paper tickets have been used.)

...so only in use for five years.

[FosseWay]

I've numbered them so we can be sure which ones we're talking about 

Now redwine and Malcolm mention it, I can see the clear difference in 4 and 6 on the distance to the rim from the tip of the F. I'm still not seeing differences in the serifs though.

However, I do see a new variant in 4 and 6 which on the scan I thought was just a trick of the light but it's clear in hand, under a lens, as well. On all the others, the upper arm of the K disappears "behind" the upright of the F without losing definition - it just carries on till it hits the F. On 4 and 6, the K-bar becomes less distinct a few tenths of a millimetre before it hits the F, giving more of an impression of going behind it.

On the "bronze" one - the underlying metal appears to be yellowish rather than reddish, but I'm not certain whether this indicates plating or just that the alloy oxidises to a redder than normal state because of a slightly different composition.