Hullo!

In my latest world coin lot, I've sumbled across some tokens. Now, most seem to be from car washes etc, but this one looks a bit... older and serious maybe. I know my way around tokens even less than I know it around coins, so could someone help me id this?




Just for the curious, he are some of the other tokens. I could find out that Ostertag is a safe company, and Kärcher is a german cleaning equipment producer. They cleaned Mount Rushmore some years ago for example. I have no idea what the N token is.

Wertmarke translates as stamp or ticket in German. In this instance probably token, so probably some old late 19th early 20th Century token for a shop.

The 'No Cash Value' suggests something that would gain free entry or some sort of promotion, this looks more modern. At a guess perhaps 1950's USA??

All the best,
Clive.

Thank you, YeOlde! The word "Wertmarke" gave me the hunch for a token in the first place, but there is no way of really identifying their origin is there?

Are there people collecting these? Cause I have no idea what to do with them, really.

Call me Clive

There are people who primarily collect tokens but there are hundreds of thousands of varieties so they will never stop collecting!!

You might be able to look at catalogues or trawl eBay looking for a similar example. So you will probably never know where your token came from, most of mine have writing on like 'Rolling Mills at Walthamstow' so that tells me instantly where it comes from, your Wertmarke most likely comes from Germany.

All the best,
Clive.

Hi Clive!

Germany, Austria, Switzerland or the German speaking Netherlands you mean?

Thank you for your replies. Since you seem to be a token collector, would you find use with those four? I wouldn't mind sending them to you. (No charge of course. )

Graikos,

I suggested Germany as the other companies seemed to be German
I don't collect tokens, I just see a few I like or find a few in bulk lots. I'll let you keep them. Many thanks for the offer though! I'm more of a Hammered man...

All the best,
Clive.

Call me Demetrios, by the way!

Oki dok, then. Lets see if I can sell them to someone.

It's hammer time?

(I'm sorry... I couldn't resist. )

lol hmm make a contest make it like token related or somethin first winner picks 1 then 2nd place picks an 3rd place picks an 4th place gets the last

Demetrios,

Perhaps you could sell them on eBay? Or try the advertising forum here.
Hammer time? eh?

All the best,
Clive.

The contest idea is already in the works, but with a different coin. Just toying with the idea at the moment. Maybe I'll throw these in as well.



Never hear of MC Hammer? He was as big as his trousers in the 90s!

M.C. Hammer, vaguely remember him. Not a big fan though
Competitions are always popular here, be good for the CP community!!
Let me know if you need any help!

I will, but it won't be anything large. Just a small one with little prizes.

eheh mc hammer is now a reverend ahh the parachute pants xD lol

Just a bit more about the wertmarken...Wertmarken means 'money token'. This is a general generic german token minted by several different companies and bought by businesses to be redeemed or used in stores (like your generic token for video games). Often times they are countermarked. I have a 10 Wert-marke counter marked with a 'T', yours is 'JW'. The most famous manufacturer of Wert-marken was L. Christian Lauer in Nürnberg, but there were several other manufacturers. Probably minted between 1900-1940, except for 1915-1923 when most copper was used during WWI and hyper inflation 1922-23 needed higher values. It may be impossible to trace the origin of each token as they all used the same design.

Below is an example from my collection.

Thanks Drusus. Cleared a lot up for us, well me at least. So I wasn't far off...

All the best,
Clive.

Thank you, Drusus. That is a good deal of information! Perfect. Do these have any worth at all?

Well, thats kind of relative for these. They would have value to a token collector. I just dont see a lot of them for sale (from this time period) though there was a wide variety, often see them here and there lumped with notgeld.

There were a lot that were minted by businesses or cities but these are a general template token with some dotted lines denoting where the countermarke for whomever was using them would go. So the main interest in these are the countermark and the challenge is to figure out what they stand for. I have not found one with a 'T' or a 'JW'. They are almost assuredly pre-ww II.

Prices I have seen various wertmarken range from less than a dollar to 5-10 dollars. The marks could be for a theater (tickets), for a bar, restaurant, gaming parlor, a township, a fair, who knows...I would like to know wertmarken are listed in a catalog by Menzel and Hasselmann though I do not have it.

Why thank you, Drusus. I am curious now to see if such a thing would sell. I might give it try.

Good luck Demetrios!

Thanks!

That one is a car wash token, I think. "Clean Park" seems to be the name of the car wash company, and Zeven is a place in Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony), about halfway between Hamburg and Bremen.

Christian

Which that on this theme I saw under this reference http://www.poszukiwanieskarbow.com/numizma.../zastepczy.html

Very interesting site, thanks! I do not speak Polish but they do have many interesting tokens and notgeld pieces there ("EMISJE LOKALNE" etc. in the top frame). Basically all from Poland, and I cannot read the comments. However, since quite a few of the cities were German when those pieces were issued, I can easily understand most inscriptions.

Christian

I read in Russian, therefore a part of the Polish words to me it is clear. On German municipal releases I have the catalogue

I have that catalog.... Someone needs to make one just like it but update it.