What Volvo?

[Figleaf]

I cannot afford their cars, but I can be taken in by this token. It is 22.45 mm, 5.8 grams and looks nickel. It is not magnetic. The other sides are blank.

It came straight from Sweden in a batch of coffee machine tokens, but it is not too likely to be one. I have also ruled out tool check and advertising token. Top contender in my mind is shopping cart token, but I am not sure if that is done in Sweden and it's a bit too small to serve as a 1 krone (25 mm) replacement. Another solution could be part of a key ring...

Peter

[FosseWay]

I'm pretty sure this is a coffee token. There are numerous Volvo tokens of the same size with variations in the design. Some have VOLVO in relief. Some use the recognisable VOLVO font. Some have a beaded border. Some (older) have a denomination in öre and Sporrong's stamp on the other side.

What is less certain is which tokens were used at which Volvo plant. I attribute them to Torslanda (where the car factory is) unless I have clear evidence that they were mainly used elsewhere. The ones with propellers and other aviatory designs were likely used at Skövde. There are some older brass tokens, including the ones with real denominations, that I am told were used at the original Volvo Lundby plant (a bit further in towards the city centre from Torslanda in Gothenburg). There are also some tokens with MOTORN (= "the engine") in similar fonts, metals and sizes to the VOLVO tokens. My guess is that there once was a canteen at one of the Volvo plants called Motorn, but I haven't been able to verify this.

It is just as well they stopped charging for coffee at Volvo. For the flagship company of a country with the second-biggest coffee consumption per capita on the planet, the coffee at Volvo truly sucks. As a result the brown ick you get is today dispensed for free. (Yes, I used to work there  )

[Figleaf]

There are numerous Volvo tokens of the same size

I take your word for that, of course and that changes the equation. A coffee token it is. Thank you.

As for company coffee, I went from university straight into several civil servant positions, which was enough to get me off coffee completely. Only my last - private sector - job brought me back to the black waker-upper. That was also the only job I had where coffee was free. Officialdom has to catch up with modern times in the area of coffee also. OECD now has drinkable coffee, but it's not free. You do get a discount if you bring your own cup

Peter

[FosseWay]

Some more Volvoids...

The first three I would guess are roughly contemporary to yours, with 13087 being probably newer.

8592
The same as yours, with incuse VOLVO and blank reverse. Cu-Ni, 22.4 mm, 5.78 g

9648
VOLVO raised with beaded border, blank but with border on reverse. Cu-Ni, 22.5 mm, 5.12 g

13087
VOLVO in Volvo's own branded font. Cu-Ni, 22.8 mm, 5.89 g

The following two are older, and probably come from the original Lundby plant in Gothenburg.

13093
VOLVO / 1 and Sporrong's straight stamp. Normally this would be 1 öre but it might have been used as 1 of something else (e.g. cup of coffee) as 1 öre would not have bought you much even when Volvo started in 1927. Brass, 19.3 mm, 2.81 g. I don't know what the significance of the hole is.

13094
VOLVO AUTOMATPOLLETT (= machine token) / Sporrongs nya stämpel. This is the only one that explicitly says it is an automated machine token. Brass 18.0 mm, 2.36 g.

Then I have two with the text "Motorn", which I haven't attributed yet.

9649
MOTORN incuse, obverse blank. Cu-Ni, 22.5 mm, 5.82 g. Same style, size and specifications as Figleaf's Volvo token and no. 8592 above.

14692
New acquisition that I haven't scanned yet, sorry. MOTORN across an aircraft or boat propeller / Sporrong's new stamp (as 13094). Brass, 25.0 mm, 3.20 g. Hole at top.

[Figleaf]

Interesting. Thank you. That raises my old questions again, but for other pieces. There is one class with a diameter of around 24.5 or 25 mm. They could well be coffee machine tokens. I am doubtful about the rest. Take the 1 machine token (13094). It would make more sense as a canteen token. You'd have several machines with anything from coffee to meals and snacks in-between. They would be priced in points, which would explain the 1 on the token. This is the set-up Shell had. It is designed to keep night shifts going.

Peter

[malj1]

I too have the first VOLVO incuse type  Cu-Ni 22.5mm



See it here