Token page

Besides my coin and banknote collection I also have a small collection with tokens, not only "machine" tokens used for public transport, coffee machine or telephone but also Dutch "occasional" money. This "occasional" money is distributed mainly local governments to finance local activities or local charity. They are not legal tender only valid temporarily in the City where they were issued. I only collect tokens which could be used to pay in anyway for goods or services.

"Rembrandt" tokens, issued and only valid in Leiden, Rembrandt's place of birth to celebrate his 400th anniversary. 1 Rembrandt has the equivalent value of 1 Euro.
During Cultural year 2004 the City of The Hague issued their own coins called "Blufjes", named after the famous dessert "Haagse Bluf". The value of 1 Blufje was equivalent to 2 Euro.
To help finance the rebuilding of windmill "De Walvisch" which burned down in 1996, the city of Schiedam issued "Molenmunten" in 1998. The issue of these coins generated about 100.000 Guilders.
To celebrate its 750th anniversary the city of The Hague issued a series of five "Jantje" coins in 1998. On the front you see the text of a kids song, on the back the Stork of The Hague
1.Poffer from Noord-Brabant 2.Vyfje from Rijswijk 3.Five Guilders from Amsterdam 4.Porter uit Rotterdam 5.Reddertje uit Noordwijk
Before the telephone card was introduced, tokens were used in a lot of countries to pay in a public telephone booth. On the right you see some examples of these tokens.
To avoid payment delay gas meter tokens were used in The Netherlands until the fifties. One had to buy these tokens from the gas company before gas was supplied.
To the right you see some examples of coffee machine tokens. These coffee machine were mainly placed in company restaurants and personel could pay for their cup of coffee with these tokens. Most of the time the obverse and reverse are the same.