Boordgeld or ship money

[malj1]

The Holland America Line tokens would be interesting to find but it will be difficult to sort them from the modern casino issues when seen in advertising. The three tokens can be seen here along with some misinformation about their purpose.

The Van Ommeren tokens appear to be a little different, Catawiki has this information: (Translated from the Dutch)

Not because of the currency reform after the Second World War, but because of the planned automation of the bar in the evenings, the firm Ommeren in 1964 and 1968, coins made of 10 cents, 25 cents, 1 euro   gulden and 2.5 guilders. Van Ommeren has surrendered the remaining medals around 1975 by the Royal Mint.

They show just this one type.

[malj1]

The Holland America Line tokens would be interesting...

HOLLAND AMERIKA LIJN rev. SCHEEPSPENNING SHIP'S CURRENCY 1948 in three denominations 25, 24mm; 10, 19.9mm; and 5 Cents, 15.9mm. all are copper.

The letters NASM in the flag stand for Nederlands Amerikaanse Stoomvaart Maatschappij = Netherlands-American Steamship Company

[Figleaf]

Excellent, malj1! Another step closer. It looks like they are in nice condition as well. The Philips van Ommeren series is the most difficult to find. To an extent, the series of "plastic" tokens issued by the Dutch Ministry of Defence for soldiers exercising in La Courtine is connected to these series, as they were issued in the same years and for the same reason: the inconvertibility of the guilder.

Peter

[malj1]

Frits J. Bingen wrote an article "Ship's Money" for The Fare Box, in March, 1974, with the mintages for the SMN series.

-March 1974
-Page 37-
SHIP'S MONEY =
By F .J . Bingen
Collectors of world transportation tokens probably know that right after World
War II, two sets of ship's money tokens were issued in the Netherlands. The reason
was that, immediately following the war, there were restrictive currency regulations
which strictly limited the amount of money travellers could take with them out of the
country. This restriction was especially annoying to travellers on board ship. Accordingly
several European steamship companies issued their own "money," or tokens.
The Steamship Company Netherland (Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland - S.M.14.) and the
Holland America Line (Nederlandsche Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij Holland
Amerika Lijn) at first used paper money of their own issue. Upon coming on board,
Passengers were required to change their own money for the ship money, and during the
voyage they could only use the ship money for any payments required of them. The
S M N was the first company that introduced its own coins, as the paper currency did
not last very long, and soon became very dirty. Only the paper currency of 10 and 25
guilders remained in use. Between 1947 and 1959 there were struck on the Rijks Munt
(the State Mint) in Utrecht the following numbers of ship money coins:

50,000 2.50 F. aluminium Smith 909 I
75,000 1.00 F. " Smith 909 H
50,000 .50 F. Smith 909 r
44,000 .25 F. bronze Smith 909 F
190,000 .10 F. " Smith 909 E
170,000 .05 F. " Smith 909 D

Inasmuch as the original 25 cents in bronze was of about the same size as the U.S.
25C coin, there was put into use after some years--that is to say in December, 1953, --
an entirely different coin, the square aluminium piece of which until 1959 were struck
100,000 pieces (Smith 909 K). Also in December, 1953, the Mint in Utrecht started with
the striking of a 5 guilder Piece in the same size as the 211 guilder and to differentiate
it from this coin it was made of bronze with an aluminium centre of 27mm (Smith
909 J). Until 1959, 20,000 of these coins were struck.
The Holland America Line soon following the example of the S M N, but only for
the lower denominations. In 1948 the Mint in Utrecht struck:

10,000 25C bronze
12,000 10C bronze
10,000 5c bronze

But the denomination of these coins is in U.S. dollars and cents! For the higher values
the H A L remained using Paper currency. Soon after 1959 the reason for the use
of these special coins was eliminated. Foreign money could be used more freely, and
in the early sixties there was no longer any need for the use of ship money coins.
However, on the ships of the S M N the coins remained, just for the convenience of
passengers, for some years. But this ended about 1965, and now some denominations are
very difficult to find.
One would think this was the end of ship's money altogether. But a recent visit
to the Mint at Utrecht brought to light an entirely new set of this money, issued by
Pilips van Omneren N.V. (Ltd.), one of the bigger ship owners in Rotterdam. Struck by
the Mint are the following nieces:

V 0 (in monogram)
WM 26 Sd Phs. Van Ommeren N.V. .Rotterdam . 250
WM 23 Sd  "   "   "   "  " " 100
Bz 20 Sd  "   "   "   "  " " 25
Bz 18 Sd "   "   "   "  "  " 10

The number of these struck was: (250) 4,130 in 1964, 1,026 in 1968 (total 5,156).
(100) 8,122 in 1964, 2,032 in 1968 (total 10,154). (25) 10,426 in 1964, 4,066 in 1968
(total 14,492). (25) 10,494 in 1964, 7,960 in 1968 (total 18,454).

These tokens are valid only on the ships of V O. The crew gets a certain amount of
these coins every week, and payments in the canteen can only be made with these coins.
No other currency is accepted. The company states that, in this way, there is no
need for them to bring on board any current Netherlands coins. Besides this, the
Captain can, if anyone should use too much spirits, correct this in a certain way by
giving him less ship's money! I have tried to secure some sets of these nice pieces
for my fellow collectors, but I mostly regret that the company, though willing to
give me any information needed, did not wish to dispose of more than the two sets
they sent me. Moreover they told me that is of no use to write them directly, as
they will not answer any requests for their tokens.
Yet another token, which could be ship's money, came into my possession recently:

(FLAG WITH J.& A.V.D.S.)
B 22 Sd 1 Lire

I must confess this token puzzles me completely. The flag with the initials J. & A.
V.D.S. is the flag of a very big old Netherlands ship company for inland navigation,
called J. and A. Van der Schuyt, a company of which it is, however, absolutely certain
that they never had any lines out of the boundaries of the Netherlands. The finding
of a token of this firm with the Italian denomination of 1 Lire puts me therefore in
a puzzle, for which I do not have a solution. The company in question does not exist
anymore. The three biggest companies for inland navigation have been united in the
S.B.S. (Van der Schuyt - Van den Boom and Stanfries) and I have written to this firm.
In their very kind reply they did not give me an answer to my question. Still there
is one link between van der Schuyt and Italy! In a book written by Dr. J.M. Fuchs
and published in 1955, which covers the history of inland navigation in the Netherlands
in the last 100 years, the writer tells us that in 1909 there were built for
Van der Schuyt two big new steamships. These new ships seemed to have been of a
striking beauty. They were put into use in 1910 and soon after their maidentrip a
Netherlands broker made a bid for the two ships on behalf of an Italian steamship
company. This bid was so high that Van der Schuyt, being apparently a good businessman,
accepted at once. The proceeds of this transaction were sufficient for the
building of four ships as big and as beautiful as the two ships they had sold to
Italy! Could there be any connection between this deal and my Netherlands/Italian
token? Was the token used on the voyage of these two ships from the Netherlands to
Italy? Or did the new owner of the ships, whose name is not known, like the flag of
Van der Schuyt so much that he put it on his own tokens? The only thing that seems
certain in this strange case is that we have here a piece of ship's money that, according
to the Italian denomination, is probably of unidentified Italian origin.
Speaking of ship's money, I shall take this opportunity to comment on the story
about the 25 pfennig token of the Norddeutscher Lloyd of Bremen, on page 42 of The
Farebox of April 1973. It is a nice story, but I'd like to know who it was that
"identified" this token. To begin with I draw the attention of our readers to the
listing of a similar 10 Pfennig token in The Fare Box, 1968, page 94. This 10 Pfennig
token is in my collection, and I reported it to Mr. Smith in a letter of January
23, 1960. The listing, however, is not correct, and not in accordance with my report.
On the reverse the wording is not "Nur Fur Diese Reise Gultig", but rather
"Z22 Nur Fur Diese Reise Gultig" . So apart from the size, denomination, and number
(R6 and Z22) the tokens are fully alike. Nay I say that I believe the explanation in
the article is not correct. Even in those days a walking tour from a passenger ship
would cost more than 10 or 25 Pfennig (the equivalent of 2½C or 6C U.S.). In my opinion
these tokens are common ship's tokens which could be used to pay for expenses
aboard the ships of the Norddeutscher Lloyd, when on their way to the U.S.A., in the
same way one could get for the beer token 909 B of the same company a quarter of a
litre of beer and for token 909 F half a litre of beer. It is probable --but for this
there is no confirmation--these tokens were used right after World War I, for the same
reason the Netherlands ship money was used in 1948. A letter of the still existing
Norddeutscher Lloyd confirms only that the said tokens are ship's money, but I know
that one cannot always depend on such latter-day communications. But one thing is
certain: let us congratulate the person who acquired the piece, for they are extremely
hard to get!

free download from: www.vecturist.com

[malj1]

 This page has now been completed with the full set of the PHS van Omneren tokens.

[Figleaf]

 

[Henk]

A comment about the SMN series of tokens. The edge inscription: * SEMPER * MARE * NAVIGANDUM, is present not only on the bi-metal 500 token but also on the round Aluminium ones (50, 100 and 250). Also the SMN logo could also mean Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland which I think is more likely.

[Figleaf]

Looking at the bottom of the share pictured on WoT, I find a different logo (click on the pictur to enlarge it.) The share dates from 1930, though, so the logo may have been updated after the second world war. Yet, if there were Americans on board also, which seems not unlikely, they would have broken their tongue on the Dutch sounds. Maybe the company let their clients decide what SMN stood for?

Found the same logo on a pattern design for textiles. Found a different (in oval) logo on tableware and a letter opener Googling around. In other words, not a logo, but a design used on board to indicate ownership.

Peter

[malj1]

I tend to agree with Henk, "Stoomvaart Maatschappij Nederland" seems to be the most likely interpretation of the logo.

The link you provided to the pattern design for textiles appears to agree.

[Henk]

From the documents in the archive of the Mint in Utrecht I have prepared the following table with the number of SMN ships tokens struck in each year. The quantities listed are in thousands.

[malj1]

That is very useful list to see.

I am surprised to see the aluminium 25 cent was first issued in 1953 a long while after the bronze 25 cent issued in 1947 and 1949.

The bronze 25 cent was said to have been used in slot machines and the US government had protested but it took a while before it was changed.

[malj1]

To my amazement I saw an advert on TV the other evening for the Holland America Line 


Holland America Line is a British/American-owned cruise line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc. Originating in the Netherlands, the company moved its headquarters to Seattle, Washington, United States. Wikipedia

[Henk]

I found an aricle about ships money (in Dutch) and a Dutch site dedicated to it. The links are:

Article: http://debeeldenaar.nl/wp-content/uploads/archief/De-Beeldenaar/De-Beeldenaar_1993_02.pdf (pages 330 - 338)

Site: Site over boordgeld datw erd gebruikt op de troepenschepen.

[malj1]

The second link is a wonderful site where I shall have to spend much more time a little later today.

The first link I downloaded the PDF and shall have to translate the part regarding the ships money.

[Lou Salerno]

Can anyone post a scan of the Smith 1967 catalog listing of Netherlands Boordgeld tokens ?

Thank you !

Lou Salerno