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Pan Nordic

Started by Figleaf, February 04, 2021, 11:15:44 AM

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Figleaf

Sweden again. Pan Nordic likely explains ⅔ of PNO, but the best hits I am getting are from a trailer rental company. What would they want with a token sized halfway between a 10 and 25 öre? 16.0 mm, 2.15 gr. The lettering is all incuse.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

FosseWay

These are a slight mystery that I've never got round to digging into. As well as PNO you get tokens with PNA and ones with the Pan-Nordic text and a globe logo, but no acronym. I suspect these are all from the same company, or different iterations of it, and I think they do haulage as well as rental. Could be tokens for some facility at truck stops (toilets, drinks...).

Figleaf

As the A in PNA stands for Automatic, I wonder if the O could stand for the same word in another language.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

FosseWay

The only language that immediately springs to mind where the word for "automatic" begins with O is Turkish, which took its word from the French pronunciation, rather than spelling, of automatique. All the Nordic languages, including Finnish, have words that begin "aut-".

malj1

This seems to be Pan Nordic Operating AB in Saro See here

This relates to our previous topic PNA = PAN NORDIC AUTOMATER (link given above)

Coincidently this is followed by the Sanibox address
Malcolm
Have a look at  my tokens and my banknotes.

Figleaf

Bingo, Malcolm! With that, I found the following text here: Aktiebolaget Pan-Nordic (importer, wholesaler of automatic vending machines, modern restaurant kitchen machines and equipment; exporter of canned fish, builders' and general hardware), P.O. Box 18 Saro, wishes to export direct or through agent high-quality Swedish manufactured butt hinges for doors.

Source: Foreign Commerce Weekly, October 15, 1956, page 15.

So Pan Nordic was a general trader, but I think the operative part for the token is "automatic vending machines" and "restaurant". In 1956, vending machines galleries selling food in restaurants were still ubiquitous in Western Europe. I happened to be in Denmark and Sweden with my parents in 1956 and I remember being fond of a Copenhagen restaurant, Karr, running on vending machines.

This will gladden the heart of FosseWay too, as Särö is near Gothenborg. ;)

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.

FosseWay

Interesting  :)

Särö is indeed just down the road from me (about 5 km). My postcode is not many digits removed from the one given there. It's unfortunate that no actual address is given, just a box number. Särö is mostly a residential location (and a particularly upmarket one at that) but there are some areas with light industrial units.

The Sanibox address is also interesting, as it is the one stamped on the large (1 krona sized) Sanibox token I have, but different from today's address in Nacka.

Figleaf

A trader would just need a small office, some modest storage capacity and perhaps a truck parking place. My impression is that the company grew into the present PNA by switching from vending and kitchen machines to electronics and communication. If so, the present PNA might be responsive to questions about its history.

Peter
An unidentified coin is a piece of metal. An identified coin is a piece of history.