Dutch gas distribution tokens

[malj1]

Such tokens existed in the Netherlands

Indeed, here is one from my collection...

[malj1]

...and of course I intended to add; zinc 15mm.
also elucidation of Winterswijk and ten? would be interesting.

[Figleaf]

Winterswijk is a small town in the Netherlands. The token has a value of 10 cent, which would buy you something like 4 cubic meter of gas.

Peter

[malj1]

I was thinking more along the lines of who issued the token such as was it from the town hall in Winterswijk for instance. ...and the time frame?

[Figleaf]

At the time, there were local gas plants, operated by a municipal non-profit company. They issued such tokens. The price indicates the late fifties of the previous century. Early tokens have the diameter of a 2-1/2 cent coin. This one replaces the 10 cent and there are also 1 gulden tokens, but they are for electricity.

Petre

[malj1]

Thank you. Yes that is the obvious solution once its pointed out.

[Figleaf]

They look the same, but not quite. Bedum, Dongen and Geldrop are villages in the Netherlands and these are their local gas tokens. However, whereas Dongen and Geldrop are in the South, Bedum is in the North. Co-operation between these villages is unlikely, so they might have been struck by the same maker. Indeed, they were. They (with quite a few others) are mentioned in the records of the Utrecht mint for 1942. Mintage was:

Bedum: 10 000
Dongen: 40 000
Geldrop: 90 000

For many other tokens, the producer and mintage is unknown.

The tokens are a tiny 14.8 mm. That makes sense, because they were replacing the pre-war silver 10 cent pieces, with an official diameter of 15 mm. The nazis had withdrawn these and replaced them with larger zinc coins. That makes these tokens a piece of history, and you wouldn't get any coin with that mintage for the €5 I paid.

Peter

[Figleaf]

This Dutch gas token is known with diameters of 12.5 and 22.5 mm. Both are exactly one mm short of a circulating coin: the 2½ cent and the 10 cent. The utility of neither the size difference, nor the hole is clear. My best guess is that these are post-second world war tokens and that Castricum didn't want people to use circulating coins.

Meanwhile, that's a really small token. It is certainly the tiniest Dutch token I know, but could it be European or even world champion in its class?

Peter

[malj1]

If you could still use these today you would have bought a lot of gas for your €5 too.

[malj1]

Maybe a quantity was available to buy and came threaded on a string, perhaps something like one guilder worth?

[Figleaf]

Guess what. I am more interested in the tokens than in the gas or the 5 euros

I may be misled by the metal, but maybe Nico de Haas designed these tokens. It looks like his style.

Peter

[Pellinore]

This is an imitation of a Dutch cent, curious because cents didn't have much value,  so why going to so much trouble? and it was poorly made: a cast in yellowish metal, when ordinary Dutch cents of the 1860s were made of pure red copper. Probably it was a trial or a joke of some sorts.

However, in the Netherlands, in the year 1920 gas meter tokens were introduced, after it was decided to stop using real money (2 1/2 cent coins). These coins were provided with a notch. And this forgery was duly notched to fit it in a gas meter. Probably out of sheer need, for the gas meter collector would soon find out and then you had to pay what was due, after all.

I bought it from the same seller who sold to me this other maltreated 19th century cent.

-- Paul

[Figleaf]

The genuine large cents had a diameter of 22 mm, while the 2½ cents were 23 mm, so I think you are quite correct to think that the notch was made for the gas meters. My grandmother had such a meter and a 2½ cent piece with a notch, made by my grandfather. Her story was that you could use it in an emergency, but when the person who emptied the meter came, you'd have to tell him there was a doctored piece in the meter before he opened it, or you'd get a fine.

However, I don't think the piece was originally made to serve as a gas token in the first place. A genuine 2½ cent piece would have been cheaper and far easier to obtain. The use of brass and the low denomination leads me to believe that the objective was not to deceive and the object was considered worthless. So what was it? I am sure you have noted the perfectly round hole on the arms side. If there were another one in the c on the other side of the arms, it would be a fine uniform button.

So why add the denomination, mint and mint master marks? My grandfather was in the Dutch army during the first world war. He told me that a missing uniform button was an offence. The army wasn't particularly bothered by locking up soldiers for petty offences. So consider this scenario: soldier X wants a spare button. He can't draw the national arms well enough, but he can cast metal and there is plenty of scrap brass from spent casings around. X makes a mould from a genuine cent (the most common year) and casts a copy. When he starts making the hole he pushes the warm flan at 5 o'clock, making a dent. He swears colourfully and realises that his little work of art doesn't resemble a button well enough, so he shrugs and gives up, but keeps the cast coin as a souvenir of his army days. Years later, it comes in handy...

Peter

[chrisild]

Cannot contribute any explanation here. But that "career" of a coin copy aimed at serving as a uniform button, and then used in such a meter, is definitely a good story.

Christian

[Figleaf]

Mr. Kooij, a member of this forum, lists 272 issuers in his Dutch token catalogue, some overlapping, many with multiple issues. One of our members is doing documentary research on them. It is therefore a good time to start listing them on WoC, to facilitate the creation of an illustrated catalogue in English on WoT. The issuers are in principle all listed on Wikipedia, but information on their gas plants is hard to come by. However, more and more archives are coming online. Eventually, they will be searchable. Details on producers and mintage are initially from the Kooij catalogue. They will be updated as new information becomes available.

Just in case someone will one day be motivated to do a section on the Dutch gas tokens on WoT, I will present what I got in this thread with pictures ready to be inserted on WoT, which explains their size. Please feel free to add what you got. Pictures of Dutch gas plants are welcome also.

Peter