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Wertmarke.... huh?


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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?

 

token1a.jpg

token1.jpg

 

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.

 

token2.jpg

token2a.jpg

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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.

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Thank you, YeOlde! :ninja: 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.

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Call me Clive :ninja:

 

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.

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Hi Clive! ;)

 

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

 

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. )

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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! :ninja: I'm more of a Hammered man... ;)

 

All the best,

Clive.

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Demetrios,

 

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

Hammer time? eh? :ninja:

 

All the best,

Clive.

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M.C. Hammer, vaguely remember him. Not a big fan though :ninja:

Competitions are always popular here, be good for the CP community!! ;)

Let me know if you need any help!

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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.

 

10wertmarken.jpg

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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 :ninja: wertmarken are listed in a catalog by Menzel and Hasselmann though I do not have it.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Kärcher is a german cleaning equipment producer. They cleaned Mount Rushmore some years ago for example.

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

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  • 1 month later...
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. :ninja:

 

Christian

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