WBCC Newsmail 93, Vol. 3, May 23, 1998 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Composed with help of members of the Worldwide Bi-metallic Collectors Club and published by Martin Peeters, The Netherlands, Focal Point of the WBCC, martinp@concepts.nl or martinp@westbrabant.net -------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear WBCC members, This week was very quiet regarding Bi-metallic news. Still I hope you enjoy reding this weeks WBCC Newsmail with great pleasure. Please notice the suggestion of WBCC member John Bucek did. 1. The 100th member...by Martin Peeters, WBCC Focal Point Last week I could announce the 100th WBCC member. Let me know introduce him to you: Name: Art Wells (WBCC member #100), USA E-mail: awells@tcsn.net Age: 50 Profession: Minister, healer, shaman - Nuclear Security Supervisor Hobbies: Scuba Diving, coin collecting, swimming with dolphins, numerous other outdoor activities. Against: Ignorance and stupidity. 2. My new E-mail address............by Alan Burghauser, USA Please change my E-Mail adress for all mail. Alan Burghauser, E-mail: ahbmd@home.com 3. New images in WBCC's Homepage....by Martin Peeters, WBCC Focal Point There are several new images of Bi-metallics into the WBCC Homepage, http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/7513/wbcc/wbcc.html ,now: * Finland 5 Euro's 1997, provided by Kari Hurskainen * Israel 10 Sheqalim 1998 (5758), Piefort * Netherlands future (2002) 2 Euro * Netherlands Medal 20 years coindealer Theo Peters * Netherlands Shipmoney 500 cents 4. Bi-metallic Silver Strikes...by Randy Mortimer (non WBCC member), USA I thought I would let you know that I am helping a friend sell several hundred $10 Casino Silver Strikes. Have most tokens in Nevada and a few from Colorado and other places that have not sold yet, including Aruba and Canada. They can be found from my homepage at: http://www.pipeline.com/~ram3/randys.html 5. Bi-metallic Shipmoney...........by Martin Peeters, Netherlands The following text is written by Fred G. van den Haak (further details unknown) and you can read some interesting stuff about (Bi-metallic) Shipmoney. IF you look into the WBCC Homepage, http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/7513/wbcc/wbcc.html ,you will find a picture of a Netherlands 500 Cent Bi-metallic Ship money token. --Quote Boordgeld (board-money/ship money) were metal and paper tokens issued by many Netherlands shipping lines from 1946 through the mid-1970s. Quite soon after the end of World War II, as trade, immigration, and general passenger travel became more conmonplace, a need became apparent far a universal method of payment to be used during jouneys on various Netherlards shipping lines. This was initially encouraged by the goverrment of the Netherlands because of severe restrictions in the availability of foreign exchange. A second and far more important reason for using tokens was the fact that many crew members the various ships flying under the Netherlands flag were Javanese from Indonesia. Since passengers were likely to have the greatest in variety of coins, banknotes and traveler's cheques from many different countries, it was decided to issue tokens to svoid confusion on board ship. Consequently, after boarding and/or during the journey, passengers could exchange their moneys for ship tokens, thus enabling them to pay for any goods or services which they required. During the journey, only ship tokens were accepted- as payment. Initially, only paper Tokens in 10 and 25 cent donominations were issued. However, these proved to be very difficult to use, end they became tremendous accounting ploblem. As an illustration, on a typical voyage of the SMN ship ORANJE, liquor sales alone would exeed 75,000 gulden (a temendous amount of money at the time). At the end of the voyage, several hundred thousand tokens had be counted and prepared re-issue. Fom obvious reasons a better system had to be developed. Starting in 1947, the SMN Line had metal tokens struck at the Royal Netherlands Mint at Utrecht. Interestingly enough, this was the first time that the Royal Mint had ever struck coins (tokens) on the order of a private entity. The first set consisted of seven different tokens: bronze 5, 10 and 25 aents, aluninum 50, 100, and 250 cents, and a BI-METALLIC aluninum and bronze 500 cents (this token was quite Unique for that time). The new metal tokens were immediate success, simultaneously simplifying transactions eliminating many of the costly accounting procedure which were required with the earlier paper tokens. A problon was discovered with the bronze 25 cent ttoken however, as these started disappearing at an alarming rate. Someone had determined that these tokens would work as "quarters" in most American vending machines. Consequently, these 25 cent tokens wese withdrawn and replaced with square shaped aluminum tokens. These were succssfully used for many years. In the long run, they provided extra profit for the company because many of these tokens were lost or retained by passengers. There were two other Netherlands ship lines which also used metal "boordgeld" tokens. There are the "Holland Amerika Lijrf" (Holland America Line) and "Phs. van Ommeren N.V.", both with headquaters in Rotterdam. Tokens from these two companies are significantly scarcer than those from the SMN Line. Additionally, very little is known about the history of tokens issued by these companies. As the name Holland Amerika Lijn primally transported passengers between the Netherlands and North America. This campany issued three bronze tokens dated 1948, and they were used only for a few years. As air travel became more popular in the early 1960s, this company's operations were greatly reduced. --Unquote 6. My favorite Bi-metallic (1)...by Pavel Frouz, Czech Republic My favourite Bi-metallic coins are Canadian silver-gold 20 dollars. I like the combination of gold and silver (numismatic view). And I like also the topic - aviation. To say the true I like all bi-matallic coins because the idea - join of two different metalls and two different colors. 7. My favorite Bi-metallic (2)...by John, Bucek, Switzerland I like to repeat my nomination of the Austria 50 Schilling 1997 Secession Building as my favourit BiMet coin because it is the first and hitherto only BiMet coin with a hologram. Convince yourself and look up the sphere on top of the building. By moving the coin, leaves will apear - but for sure, you have discovered it already. 8. A suggestion.............by John Bucek, Switzerland A prestige and propagada coup for the WBCC would be, to awards a certificate to the winning mint for the "most attractive Bi-metallic Coin of the year". How about that ?! --Remark of the WBCC Focal Point, Great Idea !! Please WBCC members, let me know what you think about this. 9. Dealers Bi-metallic lis...by Martin Peeters, Netherlands In the "Airedale Coins" newsletter of Summer 1998 I saw the following Bi-metallics for sale (prices in UK Pounds): Australia * Bi-metallic 5 Dollars in Flying Docters Set with Phonecard, 5.75 Canada * 1996 Bi-metallic 2 Dollar Polarbear in full color Blisterpack, 6.00 * 1996 Bi-metallic 2 Dollar Polarbear, 3.00 * 1996 Bi-metallic 2 Dollars Polarbear, Proof in box of issue, 16.00 * 1997 Bi-metallic 2 Dollars Polarbear in O'Canada set, 15.00 Isle of Man * 1997 Bi-metallic 2 Pound, 3.50 UK * 1994 Trialpack with Bi-metallic 2 Pound, shows how the UK Bi-metallic coin is made, 25.00 * 1997 Bi-metallic 2 Pound in Blisterpack, Unc, 5.75 * 1997 Bi-metallic 2 Pound Piefort, 49.95 * 1998 Bi-metallic 2 Pound in Mint Set, Proof in Bleu case, 32.95 * 1998 Bi-metallic 2 Pound in Mint Set, Proof in Red Case, 39.95 * 1998 Bi-metallic 2 Pound in official Mint Set, UNC, 10.95 * 1998 Bi-metallic 2 Pound with Aged Portrait Queen, 3.50 Jersey * 1997 Bi-metallic 2 Pound in Blisterpack, 14.95 * 1997 Bi-metallic 2 Pound, 7.00 Hong Kong * 1997 Bi-metallic 10 Dollar Lantua Link Bridge, 12.50 Order address: Airedale Coins P.O. Box 7 Oakwood Park Lady Lane, Bingley West Yorkshire BD16 4ST England Phone: + 01274-770414 Fax: + 01274-563869 Lauri Andrews, UK, E-mail: aireco@globalnet.co.uk Web page: HTTP://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~aireco "See" you next week, Martin Peeters, Focal Point of the Worldwide Bi-metallic Collectors Club martinp@concepts.nl or martinp@westbrabant.net ------------------------------------------------------------ The Worldwide Bi-metallic Collectors Club has established September 14, 1996 and is the very first Worldwide Collectors Club using Internet. Goal of the WBCC is exchange Bi-metallics and knowledge about Bi-metallics. -----------------------------------------------------------