Will's cigarette tokens used in the factory

[bhx7]

So not 100% sure on how these were used yet.



The Wills cigarette factory of Newcastle, built for W.D. & H.O. Wills, the British cigarette manufacturer, was built in 1940 and became a well known landmark. It's now known as the Wills Building and is located on the Coast Road between Newcastle upon Tyne and North Shields. The factory closed in 1986 and was redeveloped in the late 1990s as apartments.

It has been suggested that the tokens could have been used in the canteen which is why I have placed them here. This is speculative. If anyone has any better idea or knows their true purpose I would be very interested

There are 2 x "THREE CASTLES" tokens - the darker green one has a Dia: 30mm Thk: 1.8mm, the lighter green a Dia: 29mm Thk: 1.5mm; The "CAPSTAN" is a very dark blue Dia: 25.8mm; Lastly yellow "GOLD FLAKE" 22mm

I have been informed there maybe others out there. I WOULD BE VERY INTERESTED.
Thanks
Brian

[bhx7]

A photo of the Will's factory from 1950

[JohnI]

Brian;

If they were used as canteen tokens then the colour designates the part of the meal (e.g. Starter, Main, Drink) with the references to the products being an advertising thing.

Before WW2 it was common to get cigarettes in packs of 5 and for shops to sell single cigarettes. So they may also have been used in a coin machine. The recent discussion about the Coin Operating Company in the Entertainment Tokens section of the forum has a link to a description of their machines. They sold machines that dispensed tokens and machines that dispensed single cigarettes.

Regards;



John

[Henk]

Not likely to be canteen tokens. The tokens state, I assume, the name of a brand of cigarettes so they are likely to have been issued in advertising. E.g. for use as chips as part of some game. Or as a kind of bonus or saving check issued with packets of cigarettes, that could be used to exchange for cigarettes when a certain number were assembled. Plastic is not suitable for use in vending machines so I doubt they would have been used in this way.

[Figleaf]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Flake
https://www.etsy.com/fr/listing/1151068220/vintage-wills-50-capstan-navy-cut
https://www.tobaccoreviews.com/blend/10407/wd-ho-wills-the-three-castles-tobacco

The tins shown above are marked "Wills".

I agree with Henk.

Peter

[krishna]

Not likely to be canteen tokens. The tokens state, I assume, the name of a brand of cigarettes so they are likely to have been issued in advertising. E.g. for use as chips as part of some game. Or as a kind of bonus or saving check issued with packets of cigarettes, that could be used to exchange for cigarettes when a certain number were assembled. Plastic is not suitable for use in vending machines so I doubt they would have been used in this way.

Similar tokens are rampantly used by indian companies, where the user, who generally recommends the product and the buyer of the product are seperate entities
Prevalence in products like paints, admixture, plumbing and electrical fittings, textile yarns, etc.

[bhx7]

Not likely to be canteen tokens. The tokens state, I assume, the name of a brand of cigarettes so they are likely to have been issued in advertising. E.g. for use as chips as part of some game. Or as a kind of bonus or saving check issued with packets of cigarettes, that could be used to exchange for cigarettes when a certain number were assembled. Plastic is not suitable for use in vending machines so I doubt they would have been used in this way.

Hi Henk, as I said not 100% on there purpose. They were supposed to have been used within the factory somehow, that is what my friend was informed. His mother in law, who unfortunately has dementia, used to also work in the factory and had said there were dozen of different tokens used in the company, but by all accouints did not go on to explain.  So left with the quandary.

Brian

[Offa]

I think they are advertising tokens.

[JohnI]

Brian;

The website below lists all sorts of games issued by Wills

https://www.imperialtobaccocollection.co.uk/toys--games-124.html

It also has the tokens (it looks like you have the complete set). It states they are counters, but makes no mention of what game, if any, they were issued with or used with.

Wills used cards in cigratte packets from the 1880s. From the 1880s to 1940 they issued pictorial series. From at least the early 1960s they issued coupons that were collected and exchanged for goods - there is a Calcutta one from the 1930s on ebay. Given the additional cost and complexity of putting a token in a cigarette packet and the different sizes of the tokens, I would consider that their being issued with cigarette packets highly unlikely. The different sizes is also a complexity that more or less rules them out from having been issued from dispensing machines

There is a long history of companies issuing canteen tokens with no mention of the word canteen or something similar;

https://war-work.com/national-filling-factory-no-4-georgetown/

There is a history of companies issuing plastic canteen tokens with only colour being used to designate the part of a meal;

https://www.mernick.org.uk/br/types.htm

Having been in a few works canteens myself, there are still company canteens that have meal parts at a fixed price regardless of what the meal parts are (e.g the main is a fixed price).

I would support your friend's mother in law and agree that they are most likely canteen tokens. The reference to other tokens may be reference to pay checks, tool checks or other series of canteen tokens - for example Stephen Mitchell, also part of the Imperial Tobacco Group, issued earlier brass tokens with values of 1/2d, 3d and TEA (probably also one for 1d).

Regards;



John

[bhx7]

Thank you JohnI, lots there to take in. Also thanks to everyone else that has chipped in with ideas etc.