Sporrong Stockholm

[malj1]

A generic blank token with a Sporrong reverse. brass 26.2mm

[FosseWay]

Interesting - I haven't come across that size before, in any of Sporrong's generic tokens.

I have the one you show in 19 and 23 mm variants.

After Sporrong stopped using the coat-of-arms based stamp, they went over first to a logo showing SPORRONG with three circles above, and later still to an S with three "pips" above (see pictures below).

I have the first of these in 16 mm, 19 mm and 24.3 mm; and the second in 21 mm, 24.3 mm and 28.5 mm.

[FosseWay]

I'm wondering whether this thread should be in "Tokens for operating machines". AFAIK the generic tokens were (possibly still are) used for communal washing machines in apartment blocks, institutional coffee machines and suchlike.

Alongside the completely generic tokens shown above, there are others which give a purpose but no issuer's name (such as the TVÄTT piece below; tvätt = washing), and still more that show the issuer, with or without an indication of purpose (as the Riksbyggen piece below).

Both of these are 24.3 mm, which seems to be one of the commonest standard sizes for Sporrong tokens.

Riksbyggen is one of the big apartment housing companies with flats all over Sweden - it's therefore not possible to narrow down where this one is from. Tvättstugor = laundry rooms (strangely in the plural - any given apartment block is unlikely to have more than one).

[malj1]

Yes of course they would be for operating machines as the anonymous stock tokens usually are. [now moved]

I have seen the S with three "pips" but hadn't realised what it signified. Thank you, you do learn something new every day!

Also learned a few Swedish words which is useful, Tvättstugor = laundry rooms. The plural use would mean for use in the laundry room in any/all of the apartment blocks.

[FosseWay]

Sometimes the tvättstuga tokens have a specific location on them, as well as the name of the issuer. The one below (19 mm incidentally) is issued by HSB, another of the large apartment providers in Sweden, like Riksbyggen. "Ängen" (literally "the meadow") is the name of a specific apartment block or complex, though this kind of name is too common to be able to narrow it down to a known location. Even before you click Enter on a Google search on "HSB Ängen" you get three autofill hits, in Norrköping, Mölndal and Västerhaninge. I've tentatively attributed this one to Mölndal simply because I acquired it in Gothenburg and Mölndal is only 10 km away.

The point of all that is that in some cases, the tokens were clearly intended for use at a particular location, even though they would have been interchangeable with similar tokens from elsewhere (even those from other companies, as the Sporrong generic sizes of 19, 23 and 24.3 mm are very common). There must have been a reason for putting the precise location on some of these tokens but I can't see what it might be.

[malj1]

It would probably depend on the order from the customer who would have a choice of a named piece for a small extra charge or the cheaper generic.

In most cases the customer would expect to use the named pieces with little thought that the generic pieces that abounded would also be usable.