Belgian bread tokens

[Figleaf]

I found this intriguing picture while trawling for bread tokens. The inscriptions are in Dutch (not Afrikaans), but I failed to find the shop or its owner, let alone their nationality.

The bakery is not mentioned in Kooij, who is a careful researcher. A further clue to its nationality is the "denomination" of 1 kilo of bread. The standard weight of a bread is 1 kilo in France, 800 grams in the Netherlands, but there is an area in the South of the Netherlands where affinity with Belgian neighbours can be more important than Dutch law.

Do you know more?

Peter

[FosseWay]

Although the written form of Afrikaans used to be much more similar to Dutch than today's language is, it's unlikely to be South African because of the unit - this looks old enough to be well within the period when British customary units were universally used in South Africa.

If not NL or Belgium, then possibly Dutch Caribbean or East Indies?

[Figleaf]

Possible hint in Delpher: In Leeuwarder Courant, 25-07-1894 is an article on "The bakery exposition" in Amsterdam.


If I read the report correctly, the company Van Oyen from Rotterdam is not a baker, but rather a producer of hot air bakery ovens, though.

Peter

[africancoins]

Search google books for

J van Oyen Wetteren

....

Two results within the results in the book...

Dubbele wegwyzer der stad Gent en der provincie Oost-Vlaenderen

are useful.

Wetteren is in Gent, Belgium.

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[Figleaf]

Thank you Paul. Unfortunately, the name is in a list of customs officials, not bakers. Searching on bakker and boulanger has the problem that both are popular last names, as you will understand.

Peter

[eurocoin]

This piece looks Belgian and Belgium was also the country that was suggested as possible origin for this token in an online coin catalogue and auction catalogue. Following an extensive search in Dutch and Belgian sources, indeed a baker named J. Van Oyen was found in Belgium.

Josephus (Jozef) Van Oyen started his bakery in 1928 at Geldmunt 17 in Ghent. The first reference to it can be found in a newspaper article of 3 February 1928, which is attached below. Although there is no precise date of when he started his business, newspaper articles show that there had been a major fire at the bakery at the end of December 1927, when it was still being run by the previous owner. So it is safe to assume that he started to exploit the business in 1928.
Another, smaller, fire broke out in the company in 1928.





From around 1931 the address was changed to Geldmunt 19. Around 1940, Jozef Van Oyen moved to Wondelgem where he started a bakery at Lindestraat 42.
A newspaper article of 24 June 1941 shows that he was soon afterwards prosecuted for selling rye breads that did not comply with the legal requirements. He was given a fine of 3000 francs, the rye breads were confiscated and the company had to remain closed for 3 months. After this, no further information about the company was found.

[Figleaf]

Bingo! You just made a piece of history. Thank you!

Peter

[chrisild]

Cool find indeed! And I love the fact that the original location of that bakery was in ... Geldmunt.

[eurocoin]

It was a nice search, and indeed funny that the bakery was originally located at the street named 'Geldmunt'.  It is a reference to the fact that the mint of Ghent was located there since around 1350.

During the search I also came across some personal details about Van Oyen. He was born on 21 November 1898 in Ghent, married in Evergem on 15 November 1927 and died on 14 September 1975, in Ghent. To my surprise, I also found a photo of him.

[africancoins]

Peter,
     Regarding the two results within the results in the book...

Dubbele wegwyzer der stad Gent en der provincie Oost-Vlaenderen

The match on page 575 was "Van Oyen J broodbakker", is that match a bit more relevant than that on page 246 in that publication ? I am have the disadvantage of not understanding the non-obvious Belgian words. Also - I suppose a chance of the two "Van Oyen J" in that book not being connected. I can see that this book being seemingly 1902 is perhaps too early for the issuer as found by Eurocoin. However, looking again, I find that the page 575 match is part of one of several lists on that page and the first word of the heading for this particular list is "Begijngracht" and that is a Gent location less than 1km from Geldmunt.

Any comments ?

Thanks Mr Paul Baker

[eurocoin]

As for the 2 matches in the 1902 edition of 'Dubbele wegwyzer der stad Gent en der provincie Oost-Vlaenderen' that you have seen: The J. Van Oyen mentioned on page 246 is indeed a customs official, so not a match. The J Van Oyen mentioned on pages 429, 575 and 1141 of the book is indeed a baker.

Following some research to this person it was found that he was mentioned in the book from in the editions from 1901 upto and including 1903. In the editions of 1904 and 1905 there was mentioned that his widow continued the bakery, which indicates that he had died by then. The death records of Ghent indeed show a death in Ghent on 16 April 1903 of the baker Julianus Desiderius (Jules) Van Oyen (born Poeke, 10 July 1864). His bakery was closed by 1906.



The birth record of the J. Van Oyen that I found of 1898 mentions that J.D. van Oyen is his father. It also mentions that J.D. van Oyen was then also already a baker.



Download the images to be able to zoom in and read them more easily.

[eurocoin]

I do not think it impossible that the father Julianus Desiderius (Jules) Van Oyen issued the token and only used his first initial on it. I do not know a lot about bread tokens, so maybe based on the timeframe of their usage in Belgium, there could be determined if the tokens were more likely to have been issued by father (who had a bakery in at least the period 1901-1903) or son (who had a bakery in at least the period 1928-1941) Van Oyen.

[Figleaf]

I am not really familiar yet with Google books' new format. I get only two hits and both are the same.

Another bit of superb research, eurocoin! City archives?

So now, the question is whether the token was issued by Jules or Joseph, or perhaps a generation in-between. We have some clues: the use of brass, the slightly raised edge and the legend. In general, this sort of token was used in the period around 1880 - 1955 in the Netherlands with the glory days around 1920. I need to find many more Belgian tokens to find out if the situation was similar in Belgium. At the minimum, I expect to find a hiatus during the first world war. I also expect more similarity with the situation in France.

Before the first world war, the bread, milk and coop tokens tend to be made of copper or bronze. Edges are usually unworked. Afterwards, you see brass, zinc and carton. The increased use of brass is likely due to the availability of spent ammunition shells. Edges are still often unworked, but there are a number of instances where they are slightly raised. I speculate this is because those tokens were struck in a collar and the metal crept up against the collar during the strike, but this is to be confirmed.The words GOED VOOR in the legend translate to BON POUR. These words are used on the French circulating coin-tokens of the Chamber of Commerce dated 1920-1929. This is of course weak evidence. Overall, though, the clues we have make an issue date after the first world war more likely than an earlier date.

@eurocoin: Your are right that strictly speaking, Jules would have been J.D. van Oyen. However, I don't think the missing D is very important, since on the entry 3919 you posted, Jules signed his name without it. I'd be curious to see Van Oyen's picture. Could you post it here, please?

Peter