Hello, A frien ask me to see if I could figure out what this was. I told him I was pretty sure it was German but cant find any info on it. Any help is appreciated. Thanks
The bridge was the first one that crossed the Rhine river in Bonn - built in 1898, destroyed in 1945. The 10 Pf notgeld piece was apparently issued by the city of Bonn and the neighboring county (Siegkreis); back in those years, Bonn was on the left bank of the Rhine only. Here are some photos of the old bridge: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alte_Rheinbrücke_(Bonn) Christian
By the way, I just had a look at that Wikipedia article again; they actually charged a 2 Pfennig bridge toll at that time. The piece is not a toll token however but, as mentioned before, local notgeld. There is an interesting story "behind" that bridge; has nothing to do with the 10 Pf piece but still amusing. When that first bridge was to be built, Bonn had to finance it because the place on the other bank of the river (Vilich/Beuel, today parts of Bonn) did not want to contribute first. That changed later - but the Bonners were quick to add a small sculpture, the so-called "Brückenmännchen". People who would walk across the bridge from Beuel to Bonn were greeted by the "derrière" of the little guy. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brückenmännchen_(Bonn) You can still see it today: After WW2 the sculpture became part of the new bridge (Kennedy-Brücke) that crosses the Rhine at that place ... Christian
The composer Ludwig van Beethoven was Bonn's most famous son so to say. The house where he was born in 1770 (see the date on the right) is a museum today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven_House Christian
